vi et animo
by dynamiic
Summary: In a world run on Chakra, Sasuke always knew he had abilities that no one else had besides the Imperial Soldiers, the Nius Empire's robotic police & military force. Swept away by the insurmountable current of fate, he was thrown into this crazy mission out of nowhere. At least his thirst for a more exciting life was finally quenched. AU. Sasuke. Ino. Neji. SasuIno. NejiIno.
1. Chapter 1

"_I thought that was a myth," a skeptical voice sounded in the dark silence, "The Devil's Gift, The Ultimate Weapon, The Soluroid or whatever it's called. It's a myth." _

"_It's every bit real, Kisame," his companion said, unfazed by his partner's doubt, "__As real as you can imagine."_

"_And how are you sure of that?" Kisame asked. He was still not convinced. _

_Itachi gestured to the ancient mechanism behind them, its Holy figure standing tall and eerily in the dimness. Kisame had noticed the thing when he entered but didn't bother to think twice about it until now. _

"_We have one of the seven pieces," Itachi said, "The Sloth." _

_Kisame chuckled as he observed the giant statuette glowering over them in interest. _

"_Well I'll be damned... I stand corrected; it's not a myth after all," the shark humanoid said. His partner, Itachi, never failed to impress him. The young man, 11 years Kisame's junior, was every bit the Uchiha that ran through his veins. _

"_Where are the six others?" Kisame asked. _

"_Still hidden." _

"_So that means we've got to find them right?" _

"_Mm." _

"_Have you told Orochimaru about this?" _

"_He was the one who sent me after this one." _

"_Huh, finding the very thing that has the power to end the world and he doesn't tell anyone other than you?" _

_Itachi gave no response. _

"_Bastard."_

* * *

He sat there rolling the orange in his hands, discerning every curve, bump and bruise. 45 degree curves, 96 small bumps, 3 bruises. As he continuously repeated the move, he put the tiniest pressure and the orange felt more malleable with every squeeze.

The teacher's droning about Ancient Runes and Latin was a mere buzz in his ears as he put all his concentration on to the fruit in front of him. He stopped the rolling motion after the hundredth roll and let his grip loosen before sending the familiar warm sensation through his palm. Multiple cuts appeared on the orange's skin and slowly grew for every second he channeled his energy.

He watched closely as they inched closer to the north and southern poles of the fruit, like ink bleeding on paper, and stopped the flow right when the citrus skin looked like it was about to collapse.

Sasuke had been doing this ever since he discovered the mysterious energy that was residing inside him. As a younger child, he hadn't bothered to find explanations as to why his toys broke when he got too excited, why he'd cracked another child's arm when he held on to her playing a game, and why certain electronics came to life at his touch. He was too naïve as a child.

His parents were long dead for reasons unknown, so there was no one to notice his abnormality. The teachers were too busy caring for less able children to pay attention and other kids had tended to stay away from him. It wasn't a challenge for Sasuke to hide his talent at all… as if he actually wanted to tell anybody.

Now, seven years after his discovery, he managed to tame and manipulate the energy however he wished and used it every opportunity he saw fit. He'd learned how to keep his phone running even with the battery dead, how to exert more force in his physical training, and also how to peel oranges without moving a muscle. It was a power he came to find multiple uses for.

However, Sasuke knew no one with the same ability other than the Imperial Soldiers, the government's robotic military and police force who powered their own weapons, though that aptitude was not publically known. Sasuke had used his leisure time breaking into the library's unknown forbidden room that held the Old World and New World's arcane information and discovered details of the government that wasn't taught in class.

Imperial Soldiers were bred separately from Nius's citizens and specially selected in that already exclusive group. Rejects were incinerated to protect their body's secrets. They were trained as machines and disposed of when they hit the age of 40. No wonder they don't teach us this stuff, he had thought as he read the transcripts. Everything in that room was kept from the public, hidden deep in the city's library's basement.

Sasuke had also discovered that what made them special was the ability he, himself, had. But that was odd; ordinary Nius citizens weren't specially bred and the last time he checked, they were ordinary human beings that had opposable thumbs as their special ability. He was classified one of them, it said so on his ID, so he didn't understand why he possessed the same power as the Imperial Soldiers.

With that, Sasuke knew he couldn't tell anyone of his ability. If the government chose to keep their information on the Imperial Soldiers top secret and regulations strict, then all he would get from revealing himself is a one-way ticket to being incinerated. And the idea wasn't appealing to him at all.

Sasuke placed the orange on his desk and finally gave his attention to his Ancient Runes and Latin teacher. It annoyed him when he realized that they were still two chapters behind his own pace, feeling unchallenged and bored. This was the whole reason why he'd decided to snoop around the forbidden room in the library- it at least offered interesting information that was actually useful.

"Sasuke," his teacher piped from the front of the room, "Please translate _vi et animo_."

"_With heart and soul_," Sasuke replied without hesitation, "Or, _with strength and courage._"

"Good," his teacher smiled and continued on to the next student. Sasuke went back to ignoring the lecture and back to his own thoughts.

He felt too smart for the academy's curriculum; he aced everything they threw at him and even held a spot at the top in physical education. Sasuke was a prodigy, as the teachers put it. He spent his time in class either getting ahead or merely being there for the sake of attendance lest he'd be punished. It almost drove him insane.

"Hey," he felt someone tug on the back of his collar, "Sasuke, are we still going to work on the Runes project after class?"

Sasuke slightly turned his head to look at the pink-haired girl behind him from the corner of his eye.

Sakura was the girl's name and she was the only one who dared to talk to the Uchiha prodigy, let alone approach him. With the guts that she had, they'd grown to be good friends the last few years that silently came to each other's aid when it was needed. They were two loners that had made an alliance to escape the loneliness. No one dared to approach her either, for her temper and intelligence were things to reckon with… especially when both were in play.

But even with their skinny friendship, Sasuke kept his ability to himself. He trusted the girl, yes, but he didn't find it practical, in any way, to tell her. He even kept his adventures in the forbidden room to himself, though he knew Sakura would have indulged in it more than he did.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in reply before turning to face ahead again. Sakura rolled her eyes at his usual lack of response.

"I'll take that as a yes," she grumbled.

"Alright, class," the teacher said as she tapped her tablet to shut off the holograms, "Our time is up for today. Your assignments are posted online so you can access them with your tablets at home. I'll see you all tomorrow."

As students packed up and shut off their electronics, Sasuke was already ready to leave; he hadn't bothered to take any of his things out as usual. Sakura quickly followed him out with a couple of other students.

"Your place or my place?" Sakura asked as they walked down the white halls of the academy with the crowd. It was the end of the day and the students itched to go home before the Imperial Soldiers started their twilight patrol.

"Whichever," he replied bluntly, uninterested in working on the project.

His limited responses annoyed Sakura to no end but she pretended that she didn't mind it- he was her only friend after all.

"Alright, my place then," she said. They walked in silence as the rest of the students laughed and talked on their way out.

They had barely made it out of the black gates of the campus before being stopped by a brown haired man with peculiar black eyes. His sights were transfixed on Sasuke as he stood a few feet in front of them with his hands behind his back.

The two eyed him, not the least bit intimidated but rather suspicious. The man was wearing a black suit that only agents of the government wore, the right bosom gleaming with the eagle crest that distinguished their status.

What did the government want with them?

Sasuke suddenly felt alarmed when the idea that they had caught on to him sneaking around the forbidden room came to mind. Were they here to punish him, take him to the Proto Gates where they banished criminals to Oblivion? Or to the incinerator to burn along with the Imperial Soldier rejects? The government's methods of punishment were an endless, fearsome list.

"Uchiha Sasuke?" the man asked, ignoring Sakura's presence next to the said boy. Sasuke gave a small nod and tightened his grip on his bag.

"What do you want?" he asked, trying to retain his usual collected demeanor despite the adrenaline rushing through him. Sakura merely looked back and forth between Sasuke and the man in the black suit.

"On behalf of Lady Tsunade, I come here to give a message. You are summoned to make audience with her," the man said officially, his eyes never leaving Sasuke.

"Lady Tsunade?!" Sakura exclaimed, "_The _Lady Tsunade? What does she want with Sasuke?"

"The Lady prefers to keep her intentions secret from irrelevant audiences," the man said boringly then gestured to the black hover car that was next to the sidewalk, "Now, Uchiha Sasuke, if you would come with me-"

"No," Sasuke interjected, "I want to know what the Lady wants with me before I agree to anything. Tell me or I'll refuse to go."

The man in the black suit started to look uneasy as his eyes glanced at the people milling about and hurriedly heading home. The twilight patrol was to begin soon; there were already a couple Imperial Soldiers in their armored suits and weapon-ready pacing the streets.

"I cannot disclose anything at the present time," he said quickly, the uneasiness even more visible, "Now, if you please-"

A loud explosion suddenly blew up in their ears, the black gates and dark marble wall behind them flying in pieces. The three and others close to the explosion were thrown a few feet as a high pitched alarm split the air. Sasuke was in a fit of surprise and confusion with the smoke clouding his sight and a loud ringing from the blast deafening his ears.

"_Rebel identified! Rebel identified!"_he vaguely heard an Imperial Soldier's robotic yell, _"Yamato, Identified Rebel #026! Yamato, Identified Rebel #026!" _

Sasuke, still disoriented from the explosion, felt hands grab his shoulders and violently dragged him. He squirmed and fought against the hold but another pair of strong hands clamped onto his arms. He heard inaudible yelling from his captors and the roar of the hover car before being thrown into it head first. His head banged against something metal, sending a throbbing pain down to his ankles.

"Sasuke! Wh-where are you?!" he heard Sakura painfully yell from outside the car before the door quickly slid shut.

"Go! Go!" he heard the man in the black suit bellow. The driver forcefully pulled the steering wheel back, making the hover car thrust forward in a jolt.

'_What's… happening?' _Sasuke thought before slipping into the darkness.

* * *

"_He's coming to. His heart rate accelerated to normal."_

"_Anything fatal?"_

"_Slight concussion, minor cuts and bruises… that's about it. Nothing fatal." _

"_His hearing? They told me that the explosion wasn't a significant distance away." _

"_Fixed." _

"_How slight the concussion?" _

"_Moderately slight."_

The faint voices without faces continued to exchange words while Sasuke's consciousness started to regain itself. He heard the faded beeping of the EKG and the distant rustling of people in the blackness.

"_Where… where am I?" _Sasuke thought.

He slowly opened his eyes but was only welcomed by a bright blur as they tried to adjust to the blinding light that strongly shined. He tried to move his arms but felt pain shooting through his entire body, stopping his attempt. His head throbbed immensely and he recalled banging it up against the metal in the car.

Wait. That wasn't all a dream?

The voices and the rustling of people suddenly start to grow clear, Sasuke absorbing sound even better than he had before in his life. Every word, every clang of a metal tool slamming onto a metal tray, every step someone took overwhelmed his ears. Crystal clear… maybe too crystal clear.

Sasuke shut his eyes, sat up from the bed and covered his ears with a grunt as if someone had amplified the world's noise by the hundreds.

A hand came and gently touched one of his wrists.

"Hey, take it easy," a woman with short black hair said soothingly, evidently careful of how loud her voice was in contrast to the rustling around her, "I fixed the arrangement of your ear's ossicles. It'll take a few days for your hearing to go back down to normal."

Sasuke cracked open one of his eyes, the noise still making his eardrums throb. The woman was looking at him with a small smile.

"Yamato sure got you in the worst situation," she laughed nervously, "But you're completely fine… a minor concussion but completely fine."

Sasuke observed her before glancing around the setting. He was in what looked like a small hospital clinic, much smaller than the typical ones in the city and a lot less equipped. The walls were white and the light shone so brightly that it made the black attire of the other busy medic personnel glow grey.

He looked down on his own body and saw that he was still in his school uniform, though singed and dirtied. There were wrappings around his head and torso and EKG electrodes were stuck to his arms and chest.

"Where am I?" Sasuke asked aggressively, ignoring what the woman had just said. The woman looked taken aback by his sudden bite but softened her face after a moment. She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off.

"Shizune, is he fit to be released? Tsunade wants his presence in the briefing room," an old man whose voice Sasuke recognized from earlier said gruffly.

The woman turned to him and nodded, "Yes, he's fine."

"Alright, come with me boy," the old man said, motioning Sasuke to follow him, "We need to get you into a better change of clothes first."

Shizune pulled the electrodes off his arms and chest before helping him out of the bed. Sasuke was about to retort, saying he could help himself, but right when his bare feet touched the ground he felt the seething pain shoot through him again. He didn't complain as Shizune wrapped her arm around his waist and slung his arm over her neck.

They followed the old man out of the white clinic and into the darker setting of the rest of the place. Its metal halls were lit with just the right amount of light, narrow and the metal ground cold. They came up to a door just a few feet away from the clinic's and Shizune slowly led him in.

The old man walked over to one of the many shelves that held stacks of clothes, armor and shoes and pulled a black shirt, black turtleneck track jacket, and matching black pants from the stacks

"Here, wear these for now," he handed them to Sasuke, "Find a pair of shoes in your size over there at that shelf. Socks are in the bin right below it. I'll wait outside."

And with that, the two medics exited the room and the door slid shut behind them, a pneumatic sound hissing as it did.

Sasuke stood there with the clothes sitting on his hands. He seriously did not what was going on. He was walking off campus with Sakura and the next thing he knew he was standing in a room in tattered clothes at who-knows-where. He remembered being approached by the man in the black suit, the explosion, the Imperial Soldier's robotic chant, being wrestled into the hover car, and blacking out.

Where was he now? And what did they want from him? Who were _they_?

Sasuke saw no choice but to change into the clothes he was given. He found a pair of black shoes and socks and put them on, almost eager to see what was in store for him but confused all the same. There was nothing to do but follow orders.

The door slid open as he approached it and saw that the old man was waiting for him just like he said. Shizune had apparently gone back to the clinic.

"Come," the old man said, walking down the hall. Sasuke followed him.

"What is this place?" Sasuke asked. Shizune hadn't had a chance to answer his question earlier. The old man glanced at him form the corner of his eye but kept walking in a brisk pace.

"I'll leave that explanation to Tsunade."

It sounded odd for the man to say the Lady Tsuande's name so easily, and without the term of superiority. The woman previously worked for the government but remained a powerful woman in Nius, her influence well known to its citizens.

So Lady Tsunade was the boss here. The man in the black suit, Yamato he was guessing, worked for her. But the Imperial Soldier had called him a Rebel. #026. The Rebels, as far as Sasuke cared to know, were Nius citizens that defected from the empire, believing the government to be too totalitarian and tyrannous. They'd be occasional attacks here and there in Nius cities but their threat didn't look too significant to Sasuke.

He decided to keep his questions to himself and expected them to be answered in the next few minutes since they were heading to the "briefing room" as the old man said. He wasn't one to obnoxiously let his curiosity take over- that was Sakura's job.

Sakura.

She was caught in the explosion with him but he remembered hearing her yell his name in the midst of the chaos. He faintly and inwardly sighed in relief knowing she was still alive even after the outburst. But what bothered him was what came of her after he was taken away in the hover car.

He didn't doubt that the Imperial Soldiers had seen her with him conversing with Yamato. That act alone could have been taken to suspicion, Yamato apparently being a rebel and all. Sasuke tried not to think about Sakura being dragged away by the Imperial Soldiers and being sentenced to punishment as other suspicious characters or Rebel-affiliated people were.

He hoped nothing had happened to her.

"Here we are," the old man said as they reached two thick metal doors. He put his wrinkly hand on the scanner to the left and the doors slid open.

"In you go. They're waiting for you."

Sasuke slowly entered and felt the soft gush of wind behind him as the doors slid shut. The room was enormous and dim, with a large screen at the head of the room, three rows of computers on the adjacent walls, even more rows right below and a large round table smack in the middle. The place looked like it could be doubled as a operations room, seeing that there were enough gadgets, seats and screens to accommodate such a purpose.

"You took long," a strong female voice sounded.

Sasuke tore his observant gaze from the room and looked to the head of the circular table where the voice came from. The woman was blonde, dressed in forest green, and lips crimson. Her aura felt warm but chilling at the same time. So this was the all-famous Lady Tsunade. Sasuke recognized her from the research he'd done during his leisure time.

There were three others at the table sitting far from the woman, a girl with long blonde hair and bangs that covered her right eye, another with purple hair and odd white eyes and a boy with black hair that spiked up from the back of his head. There were six others standing about or leaning against one of the large computers on the side. Sasuke recognized none of them.

"Looks like Yamato did a careless job with recruiting you… you look like you took a hit," Tsunade said with scrutinizing eyes, "Come sit."

Sasuke walked closer to the table but stayed a distance away.

"Recruiting? Where am I and why am I here?" he asked, his smooth voice ringing through the spacious room.

"Yeah, I'd like to know too," the boy leaning against one of the computers said. He had red upside down triangles on his face and an armored dog lying at his feet.

Tsunade chuckled and leaned forward on the table.

"An impatient bunch of kiddies, aren't you?" she said. Her face suddenly turned solemn.

"Every one of you has been recruited for your _special abilities_ and in accordance to your strength and intelligence, though some more than most."

"How do you know about our… 'special abilities' as you say?" a boy with bowl-cut hair and thick eyebrows asked.

"Our scouts have their ways of detecting nins. They've been watching you since the very first potential sign."

"Nins?" the boy with black glasses and a hood interposed. Tsunade's lips creeped into a small sly smile.

"I know that some of you have noticed that you're different and can do certain things that others can't. You feel a foreign kind of energy residing in your gut and I also know that some of you have learned to utilize it. People with that ability, including Imperial Soldiers, are called nins," the woman said smoothly, "But before we get into all that, let me start from the beginning before you all lose your heads in confusion.

"I am Lady Tsunade, former Executive Contractor for the government, now an honest business woman. Aside from that I am also, as you've probably guessed, a leader of the Rebels-"

"Rebels?!" the girl with two brown buns exclaimed, "What-"

"Keep your question till the end of this briefing," Tsunade interrupted her with a snap, "Yes, I am a leader of the Rebels and you're thinking, why in the world would one of the most influential people of Nius be a Rebel?"

She scanned their faces and saw confusion and apprehension.

"The government is planning something astronomical and has been keeping it form the citizens and even its lower ranks. You've been taught of the Soluroid in your classes, have you not?"

A couple of them nodded.

"The Devil's Gift… said to be left by Devil after his defeat by God," the boy with the spiky ponytail said, "A mythical weapon that was intended to be passed down to finish his job. I've only heard stories."

"Correct," Tsunade nodded, impressed with the boy's clarity, "Though it is not a myth- it's as real as any of us in this room right now.

"As you all know, this earth's civilization is run on energy we call _chakra_. We power everything and anything we have with the earth's energy force and we harvest it to our use. However, the earth's not the only entity that's able to produce that vitality."

She paused for a moment to let it dawn on them.

"Imperial Soldiers," Sasuke said, "And us."

Some of the others looked back and forth between Tsunade and Sasuke, looking befuddled.

"Oh ho, someone's done his homework," Tsunade laughed, fascinated by the fact that this boy knew of the Imperial Soldier's secret caliber, "Yes, indeed, Imperial Soldiers and you children have the same ability as the earth's.

"Imperial soldiers power their weapons- their _propulsors_- with the chakra they produce in their bodies and it makes them superhuman, if you will. That's the reason why they're so exclusively bred and their regulations kept extensively tight. Only a handful of Nius citizens, including you ten, carry some of the same recessive genes."

"But what does that have anything to do with the Soluroid?" a chubby boy with long, spiky brown hair said with a hint of impatience.

"The Soluroid is giant chakra harvester that's designed to turn into a lethal weapon. It's made of seven pieces, with the namesakes of the Seven Deadly Sins, and they are scattered throughout the planet to hide it from the world until the Devil's spawn could later come find them, as so the myth says," Tsunade continued, her voice cutting the air like a blade.

"When in the wrong hands… well, you can imagine for yourselves of what might happen."

"You want us to find these seven pieces because you believe the government is going to use it for a purpose," the spiky pony-tailed boy said bluntly. Another small smile formed on Tsunade's red lips. The boy was sharp.

"Correct, though our eyes in the government tell me that one of them has already been found."

"But what could be government's purpose for possessing the Suloroid?" the boy with long brown hair and white eyes near Sasuke asked.

"Neji, you're an Imperial reject with Miss Hinata here," Tsunade looked at him straight into his eyes, a small glint shining in the dimness, "I think you two should have an idea."

The boy, Neji, still retained his calculating look on his face as Sasuke and everyone else looked at him. After a few seconds, his face lit up in what could be interpreted as shock mixed with anger.

"Natural selection," he muttered. Spiky Ponytail nodded and the purple haired girl's face paled as white as her eyes.

"What? What does that mean?" the blonde haired girl asked, the confusion evident in her voice.

"Exactly what he said: natural selection, survival of the fittest," Tsunade said, her eyes boring into each and every one of them, "The government plans to eliminate the weak and breed the strong, restart the human race with the most able… however you want to put it.

"Which is why we need to find these pieces before they do and that's going to be your kids' job. Nins are rare if they're not Imperial Soldiers and you ten are already half of the nins we have. We've been silently assessing Nius's citizens in the shadows, gone through mountains of files, and have come to find the ten of you as the strongest.

"Well, there were also other candidates for recruitment but we all know that the young are the liberal and the most likely to rebel," she added, "We will train each of you on how to track the six remaining pieces and in physical combat with your own propulsors. I think that about wraps this briefing up."

Tsunade allowed silence follow to let the words sink in. Some broke out into murmurs and grumbling to each other but the rest just remained silent.

"The mission is simple," she raised her voice to cut the silent chatter, "Find the Soluroid pieces and bring them back to this base so they can be destroyed. Any objections?"

"We have a choice?" Sasuke asked, almost amused by the fact that she was asking their consent with having already explained the entire issue.

"No, not really, I just wanted to see who was stupid enough to refuse," Tsunade grinned. Silence filled the air once again.

"I, Hyuuga Neji, accept," Neji said.

"Yamanaka Ino, accept."

"For justice! Rock Lee, accept!"

"Hmph, troublesome. Nara Shikamaru, accept."

"… Ten Ten, accept."

"I guess I'm in, too. Inuzuka Kiba, accept."

"Aburame Shino, accept."

"Er... Akimichi Chouji, accept."

"H-Hyuuga Hinata, accept."

Sasuke clenched his fists as everyone sounded their agreement. He didn't know what was keeping him from immediately sounding his own too but then realized it was because of how quickly things were escalating for him. He had just gotten out of school and was now in one of the Rebel's bases with the Lady Tsunade just assigning him a mission that carried the safety of the world.

What the hell; he was bored of the academy's mediocre curriculum anyway.

"Uchiha Sasuke, accept."

Tsunade slammed her palm on the table with such force that it shook the ground beneath their feet.

"Alright! It's agreed upon. This is a mission you must not fail, you understand?" All ten nodded.

"The fate of the world is in your hands."

* * *

_I hope you all liked this! It was something that I'd been planning to publish and the first chapter is finally finished. I would really love to hear some feedback about my writing and also the plot itself (from what you know of this chapter). It would be a great help if I got some tips, comments and critiques so please drop one!_

_Also, I'd just like to clarify that this isn't a story revolved around the SasuIno pairing (even though there will be some of that) but this is more focused on Sasuke. _

_Thank you for reading! Until next chapter~_


	2. Chapter 2

"_I'm not surprised that they tried to take your brother." _

_Itachi's red eyes only narrowed at the mention of his younger sibling. He said nothing in reply. _

"_It's simply amusing, though, how they thought they could fool us with those false cadavers," the slithery voice laughed, "The Rebels are starting to lack." _

_Itachi still didn't offer any bit of conversation, which made his superior tick but he suppressed his bloodlust before impulse took over. _

"_Uchiha Itachi, solemn and reserved as always," Orochimaru said, slyly smiling, "But it's such a shame that they've recruited your brother; I was close to doing it myself." _

"_It's better this way," Itachi said, his voice finally sounding in the silence. _

"_Oh? In what way?" Orochimaru mused, "Better that he's for the more moral cause? Or better that you have quite the chance in facing him one day?" _

_He waited for Itachi's response half with genuine curiosity and half with banter. He suddenly felt the older Uchiha's burning chakra radiating from him, making Nius's slithery leader laugh. _

"_Calm yourself. I'm only joking."_

* * *

Sasuke lay in his bed completely awake. It had been exactly seven hours since they'd been organized into sleeping quarters and left alone till the next morning. He found no sleep whatsoever, his mind overflowing with the recent events of the past 24 hours.

He still couldn't get over how fast things were going; it was starting to look completely insane. But what was he feeling too rushed about? He'd spent most of his 17 years being bored with the routine of life, unamused with the unchallenging lessons at the academy, and hopelessly itching for some excitement. Well, he'd gotten what he wished for. He shouldn't be complaining.

As he panned over the series of events, his mind lingered more on the briefing they had the day before. Lady Tsunade had called them nins. Sasuke, and the nine others that were recruited along with him, were _special_ in the way that they possessed the ability to create an energy force the same as the earth's.

Nins.

Sasuke pried every corner of his mind and tried to find even the slightest memory of the word. He should have come across it at least once in the secret transcripts he'd gone through. At _least_ once. But he found nothing in his memories and only remembered the details of Imperial Soldiers- the closest thing to the word nins in his head.

And the other recruits who were in the briefing with him… who were they? He didn't recognize any of them upon his entrance and he remembered Lady Tsunade mentioning that the Neji boy and the Hinata girl were Imperial rejects. They were scouring even the Imperial rejects for help? It boggled Sasuke's mind and sparked his interest.

So the others had the same ability as he did. They all possessed the recessive gene, as they were told. It felt weird knowing there were others the same as him since he'd gone through his whole life not knowing anyone else with the ability aside from the Imperial Soldiers. What were the others capable of doing? Were they as strong and smart as he was? Who exactly _were_ they?

Sasuke adjusted his sleeping position and faced the small room that he shared with Neji and the spikey haired boy- whose name he figured out as Shikamaru. The latter slept above him on the top bunk and Neji slept across from them on a single bed.

The three didn't exchange many words since they'd made acquaintances. The most any of them uttered was Shikamaru asking who was to take which bed. It was fine by Sasuke, he didn't like talkers much anyway and these two seemed the most intelligent of the bunch. The Neji boy had even radiated the strongest chakra out of the other nine and Sasuke took note of keeping a wary eye on the guy.

The room was dark with no windows and the only way to tell the time was from the digital clock sitting at the head of their door.

5:00 am, the clock read.

Sasuke still hadn't fallen asleep and they were to rise at 6.

He shrugged off the fatigue and let his thoughts restlessly run until they had to wake.

* * *

"Alright, gather 'round," a fierce looking woman with black hair called.

Her pupil-less brown eyes looked at each and every single nin that slowly gathered in front of her, piercing and wary. Being clad in a tight, black, full body combat suit didn't make her look any less menacing. The spikey, unruly hair was a nice touch too.

As the last of the ten finally joined her little semicircle gathering in the middle of simulation room, she approached one end and slowly paced her way down, looking each straight in the eyes. As she did, no one dared avert their sight from hers and remained still. The aura this woman emitted warned them not to speak without being spoken to and to not make any sudden movements.

This woman was a snake.

She stopped right in front of Sasuke who stood at the very end and her gaze lingered on him longer than it had on the others. He looked right back at her, his height and natural glare matching hers. He felt his chakra churn in apprehension as her eyes narrowed.

"You, Pretty Boy," she said, her voice ringing loudly in the thick silence, "You look like you've already taken some hits." She nodded at the wrappings that were still around Sasuke's head. Shizune had told him earlier to keep them on for another day.

He didn't know if the woman wanted him to respond but she just stood there unmoving, as if waiting. He decided to answer.

"Yamato did a careless job recruiting me," he said, echoing Lady Tsunade's words.

The woman heartily laughed, abruptly changing personalities that caught all of them off guard. She just went from snake to relaxed in a split second. What was with this woman?

"Oh man, finally, that Yamato finally slips up," she said, her laughter dying down, "I've been waiting for that."

Her manner instantaneously changed back into the snake.

"I am Mitarashi Anko, Head Recruit Instructor and a nin just like all of you," she professionally said as she paced in front of them with her hands behind her back, "I usually train normal recruits, but Lady Tsunade's assigned me to specifically train you ten for the time being. I'm assuming you've been briefed on the situation then, yes?"

She halted with her legs in a drill sergeant's stance. They nodded.

"How many of you have been trained in physical combat before?" she asked.

Neji, Hinata, Lee, and Sasuke were the only ones who raised their hands. Neji and Hinata were no surprise, since they were Imperial rejects after all. Sasuke secretly trained himself in his own time out of boredom, programming his personal Android to act as his sparring partner with the combat spheres he'd found in the forbidden room of the library. The physical education at the academy just as mediocre as its academic curriculum. He knew the basics and proved capable.

Anko clicked her tongue seeing the small number of hands but she knew she shouldn't be surprised; eight of these kids were Nius citizens that had no opportunity to openly learn hand-to-hand combat since the government forbade such things. It was their way of extinguishing any potential threat from the people.

"Alright, then this will be a gruesome training period for most of you," Anko said, "And count on being ground to the floor because I'm just about the cruelest woman you'll ever meet."

That didn't surprise any of them at the least. The mere presence of the woman already spoke that to the world.

"Now, moving on," she said, "Our mole in the government says they aren't moving to find the rest of the six for another few months till their Sensor locates the next piece. Lucky for us they've only got one Sensor at the moment and they're not exactly the best at what they do. That lucky break seriously gives us a significant amount of time to get your little asses up, able to track, and fight."

"Sensor?" the blonde girl, Ino, asked. The older woman nodded.

"No one other than nins can detect emitted chakra and no one other than _specially _trained nins- Sensors- can detect the stagnant chakra the Soluroid pieces harbor," Anko said as a matter of fact,

"Each piece has a unique chakra signature that distinguishes them from each other, which makes them easy to identify but not any easier to find. Which is why we, and government, need specially trained Sensors to do the job."

Sasuke assumed she was high in rank since she seemingly knew a lot about the Rebel's operation. No low rank would know so much. He wondered how many heads she'd ripped off to get to that spot.

"With that said," Anko continued on, "You will be split into three man cells that will be your official operation team. All three will be trained in physical combat and only one will be solely trained as a Sensor.

"Hyuuga Hinata, Rock Lee, and Inuzuka Kiba will be Cell 1, with Hinata as Sensor. Aburame Shino, Ten Ten, and Akimichi Chouji as Cell 2, Shino as Sensor. Yamanaka Ino, Hyuuga Neji, and Uchiha Sasuke will be Cell 3, Ino as Sensor."

"And me?" Shikamaru asked questioningly. He was left out of the list.

"You, IQ200, will function as the Main Sensor and Tactician that will coordinate all three cells from this base," Anko smirked, "Lady Tsunade couldn't let your brains go to waste."

She reached for the console that was attached to her utility belt and pressed the red button at the center. From the metal ground rose a long wall that carried weaponry on its hinges with a hiss.

"These are your _propulsors_ that we've specifically designed to accommodate each of your strengths from the intel we've gathered from observing you," Anko explained as she gestured to the wall behind her,

"From what you've undoubtedly seen, these are similar to the Imperial Soldiers' weapons because they are, indeed, the same in the way they function. These propulsors only activate when its designated wielder channels their chakra into them and stay stagnant when not."

Sasuke's eyes were riveted on the wall, soaking in the incredible sight of the propulsors in front of them. They, indeed, looked similar to the Imperial Soldiers' weapons in the way they were designed and crafted with their silver and dull chrome frames shining in the light. Each was unique and looked specifically designed for different purposes and harbored colored lines that were just as unique to each other.

They looked grander than the mass produced ones the Imperial Soldiers wielded- though more stylish would be the more appropriate term. There was a staff with a large portal shield beside it, two pairs of heavy looking gauntlets, a pair of equipped nun chucks, a sword with an incredible hilt and other formidable weapons.

Sasuke itched to see which one was his.

"We're going to jump right into using these because frankly, I believe the longer you work with these babies the more you're gonna get out of them," Anko said as she unhooked twin swords at one end of the wall.

She spun them in the air and gripped them tightly as they landed in her hands. She flicked her wrists and a tan light glowed from her blades along with the crystal emblem and lines on her hilts.

"This is my propulsor, which I've personally dubbed as _Medusa_," Anko said coolly, "My blades only respond to my chakra and mine alone. They're just ordinary swords without it. Now, my chakra signature is colored tan but the color of your glow will be different from mine. However, the way to activate them is the same: you channel your chakra.

"Your propulsors placed on the wall are in the same order that I listed out your teams, with Miss Hinata's down at this end and Uchiha Sasuke's down at the other. Shikamaru, I'll introduce you to yours later but pay just as much attention. Let's say we try them out, yeah?"

Neji, Sasuke and the Rock Lee boy were the first to move to retrieve their weapons and the others gradually followed suit out of hesitance. Sasuke unhooked his designated propuslor from the wall's hinges and admired the straight shape of the blade and intricate design on the sword's hilt. So this one was his. The sword was a lot heavier than he'd expected from eyeing it, but the feeling of the armament in his hold felt invigorating. He liked it.

As everyone familiarized themselves with their weapons Anko moved them to gather around her once again.

"Every propulsor has different means of offense and defense," she construed, "You can channel your chakra and manipulate its shape, reach and intensity, using your propulsors as the medium. Today, we'll just start with the basics: learning how to control how much chakra you channel and how to use it."

"Sounds easy enough," the Kiba boy smirked as he slowly channeled his chakra to the armor sleeves on his arms, making its crystal and lines lightly glow red.

"But I'll warn you about this now," Anko said with the most solemn tone, "Chakra is made up of your stamina, so when it hits zero… you will die. Bless the poor soul that taught as that fact."

Sasuke heard someone behind him gulp.

So that explained why fatigue came faster to him when he used his chakra. That energy was directly related to his physical capacity. Anko's warning suddenly made him hesitant to use his chakra so easily.

Their instructor continued to explain how to activate their propulsors and the importance of being able to control them. Too little chakra and the weapon are just as weak as they are stagnant. Too much chakra and the energy backfires on the wielder right off the bat. Most of them had no trouble in stimulating their propulsors, though it was proven to them that this required all their concentration. They channeled their chakra slowly from fear of the backfire Anko warned them about.

Sasuke and Neji were the first ones able to successfully stimulate their propulsors with ease, though it did take a few tries. It felt odd and comfortable in Sasuke's hands at the same time; it was as if he'd made a spiritual and physical connection with the thing. His crystal and lines glowed indigo, with a lighter glow engulfing the blade.

He glanced over at the others to see their progress as Anko went around and explained propulsor-specific details to each of them. Hinata was having a little trouble pumping enough chakra into her gauntlets, her white color glowing then receding. Kiba was getting close with his and was able to make his color glow brighter than he had the first time. The Ino girl was just as close as Kiba, with her sleek battle rifle glowing light purple.

Lee looked like he was having the worst time since Anko had come over and been with him longer than the others. His nun chucks' green glow merely flickered before disappearing again. The Ten Ten girl only looked about halfway there but Sasuke couldn't blame her; she had to pump chakra into her staff and portal shield at once simultaneously. It was hard enough trying to stimulate one and momentarily revered Anko for being able to activate both of hers so easily. Chouji looked about the same in his progress with his hammer and Shino with his brace and anklets.

"You two got it pretty quickly," Shikamaru commented as he approached Sasuke and Neji from observing the others. He'd taken in every detail Anko explained to each person about their propulsors. Being the Tactician and Head Sensor and all he figured he'd start his job right then and there.

Neji only nodded as his gauntlets glowed grey. His pair was similar to that of his cousin's, though hers was a bit more on the heavier side with lions engraved on the back of her hands. Eagles adorned his.

"It wasn't that difficult," Sasuke said. He powered down his sword to conserve his chakra.

"Heh, we've got a Mr. Bigshot over there," Kiba called over to them his armored sleeves finally fully glowing red, "What happened to you? You still look like a mummy."

Sasuke only grunted in reply.

"Yes!" Ten Ten exclaimed as her propulsors radiated maroon. The others were gradually making their way to success. Ino's light purple, Hinata's white, Chouji's orange, Shino's black, and Lee's still faint green.

"Alright, looks like most of you have the hang of it," Anko said and Lee hung his head in shame for his wasn't completely there yet.

"Don't worry, Bowl Cut, you'll eventually get there. Now, keep your propulsors powered up and watch your consistency… we're gonna have a test run."

The simulation room's dome walls suddenly blacked and from the ground emerged metal and earth debris making some of them topple over from the mini quake. The ceiling transformed into the night sky and the dome's walls suddenly disappeared with wide open space taking its place.

They were all taken by surprised of the abrupt change and gathered their wits fast enough to hear Anko's yell before she disappeared into thin air.

"All you ten against me! Your goal is to land one hit and this test run is over. Work together or not, doesn't matter. Just show me what you've got, tykes!"

Sasuke pumped chakra into his sword out of agitation, thankful that he remembered the right amount to activate it in the midst of disarray. Some of the others were already on the move, explosions and quakes shaking the ground. He peered around the piece of a ship's wing he was hiding behind and saw flickers of Anko's tan glow.

The woman was fast and was dodging the reckless blows of materialized chakra and reach of those who came after her. He could barely track her movements even as she traded blows with Neji and Kiba.

"Whoa! Look out!" he heard someone yelp behind him. He turned and barely dodged a purple blast that had come from the blonde girl's battle rifle a few boulders away.

"Sorry!" she called out. Sasuke ignored her and bounded his way to where Neji, Kiba and Lee were up against Anko, their blows completely futile. The others were a few yards away, calculating desperately for an idea on what to do or just confused.

"Come on! Come at me with the intent to kill or else you won't even get a chance!" Anko taunted them.

The three that were facing her continued to aggressively throw blows without avail. Not a single scratch landed on Anko and it didn't look like she was growing tired any time soon. This was almost ridiculous, putting fresh propulsor wielders against a heavily experienced one. They couldn't hope to land a blow before they all ran out of chakra.

"Get ready!" Anko hollered as she jumped onto the highest piece of debris with her blades fiercely glowing.

Chakra snakes emanated from each of her blades and circled around each other in magnificent twists before accelerating to where they were standing. They bore their fangs and large hisses split the air.

"Look out!" Kiba yelled as he and his armored dog dodged one of the snake's attacks. Neji and Lee were also able to evade but were targeted by more that were streaming out from Anko's swords.

"Watch your chakra!" Anko yelled over the crashes and hisses. She continued to pummel them with raining snakes. This was way too amusing for her, though she had to admit that they learned how to use their propulsors offensively so quickly. It was a lot more fun playing with them than regular recruits.

The others had finally joined in on the fight; Chouji hesitantly swinging his hammer at the chakra snakes' heads, Shino conjuring up swarms of chakra bugs from his bracelets and anklets, Hinata offensively pulsing them away with one swift push of a hand, Ten Ten frantically slamming her portal shield and staff into the snake's jaws, and Ino firing chakra bullets.

Sasuke was just about to jump in with the others when he felt someone grab his shoulder.

"Hold on," Shikamaru said, his eyes transfixed on Anko's figure up on the tall pile of machine debris.

"What is it?" Sasuke questioned, annoyed that someone had stopped him from diving into the fight. His instincts just wanted to throw him in there. A loud explosion sounded on the other side of the boulder they were standing behind.

"Anko," Shikamaru simply said, "She hasn't moved an inch since she started that harem of snakes. That's the weakness of whatever technique she's doing- she can't move."

A light bulb suddenly lit in Sasuke's psyche. This ponytail guy really was observant.

"Attack her from behind," Sasuke thought out loud when he connected the pieces together, "Her blind spot."

Shikamaru nodded and more quakes shook the ground.

"Take her by surprise, though I know that she'll sense you within five second's range," the genius said, "But it doesn't matter because she'll have to halt that snake harem in order to defend herself against you. Right when you distract Anko, I ordered Ino to fire."

Sasuke nodded and smirked before quickly bounding around the pile of debris.

"_Hmph, already taking charge,"_ he thought, genuinely impressed by Shikamaru's quick thinking. No wonder they wanted him as the coordinator of their operation.

Sasuke briskly made his way up the pile of debris to where Anko was standing and still controlling the chaos of snakes. It seemed that she hadn't bothered to care if all nine, excluding Shikamaru, were in her web of attacks. Good. Then she wouldn't know for sure if one of them was astray.

He suppressed his chakra as he slowly crept up closer behind their instructor, his heart beating faster by the second. Shikamaru had said that Anko would sense his presence if he got close so he figured that if he toned down his intensity it would make him a lot less detectable. Or so he hoped. Sasuke gripped his hilt tightly and stopped a few yards away from Anko.

"Is that all you've got?" she continued to taunt.

He stared at her back. What was he waiting for? A plan was in effect and the woman was pummeling the others to bits. They needed to land just a single hit and this would be over. Shikamaru had told him to just distract Anko and that Ino would land the blow from afar.

"Tch," Sasuke grunted as he took his stance.

That girl better have good aim.

He lunged at Anko's back with a battle cry, pumping chakra into his propulsor, his heart wildly beating and chakra seething. The woman turned with wide eyes at the sound of his yell and it was evident that she hadn't noticed him creeping up behind her. Anko let go of her jutsu, making the snakes disappear below, and blocked Sasuke's blade with both her own.

_Bang!_

Sasuke's obsidian eyes stared right into Anko's alarmed brown ones. Had Ino gotten her? They certainly heard the sound of her rifle go off… but Anko didn't fall to the ground, blood wasn't spilt anywhere, and she was still strongly holding her blades against his. Did she miss?

Small pieces of black hair suddenly fell from above and landed on the Anko's blades in front of her face. The bullet had apparently grazed the tip of her spikey black hair on the back of her head.

"What kind of crappy aim was that?!" Kiba's yell came from down below.

"Oh like you'd do any better," they heard Ino yell back, "You were just getting your ass whooped, idiot!"

Anko's eyes suddenly relaxed and a smirk came over her lips. She pushed Sasuke's blade off with her swords and powered them down in a spin. Sasuke kept his blade up and powered, wary of what she might do next. He knew he couldn't trust that girl's aim.

"A hit's a hit," Anko said coolly, "Test run over."

The setting abruptly changed again; the debris dematerialized and the night sky receded towards the middle of the dome ceiling. Anko and Sasuke jumped from the top of the pile of debris before it completely disappeared and landed in front of the others with a thud.

"Are you kidding?" Ten Ten asked, surprised at their 'victory'.

"Did we really win, Anko-sensei?" Lee asked, just as surprised.

"I just grazed your hair," Ino said skeptically. No way they could have won just because of that.

Anko laughed, "Like I said: a hit's a hit. Besides, you wouldn't have stood a chance against me in the long run."

Some of them grumbled in unison about how that was probably true. Ten versus one and they could only cut off a piece of their instructor's hair. They obviously had a long way to go.

"Though I can't say that I'm unimpressed," Anko said, smirking, "You learned how to offensively utilize your propulsors that quickly on the first day of training. It took me about a few days my first time, so congratulations maggots. But with that said, you've got a long, brutal road ahead of you. Keep this up and you'll be just as skilled as I am in few months' time."

"By the way," Anko added, "that sneak-attack-distract approach was pretty clever. Applause to you even though it didn't really do damage at all."

"All Shikamaru," Ino said as she rested her battle rifle over her shoulder. Anko nodded- she already knew.

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," she said as she pressed the red button on her console to summon the wall again, "Put your propulsors back here so they can be repaired. Anyone badly hurt?"

She received several responses of no as they powered down their weapons and hooked them back onto the wall.

"We'll pick up this up tomorrow morning so rest up tonight," Anko said while they all made their way to the simulation room's exit, "Lunch is in half an hour and I recommend that you get to know your teammates starting today. Remember that you'll be spending quite a long time together from now on."

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and walked off to the direction of their room while the others chatted away with each other about how awesome their first experience with their propulsor was or how dumb that test run went. He didn't have the slightest intention to make friends at all; the excitement of their mission was enough for him.

He did, however, find appeal in the fact Neji was in the same cell. Neji looked incredibly able when he traded blows with Anko during the test run, though he didn't land a hit at all. Even with that, his offense was much stronger than the other's. It really just seemed like Neji had he most potential out of the others and Sasuke itched to see how far he'd go against the Imperial reject.

But it confused him. How was someone as strong Neji rejected as an Imperial Soldier? From what Sasuke could tell from all his life, the soldiers were fearsome yes, but he'd never seen them wield their propulsors as easily as Neji had. The curiosity tugged on him but he refrained the urge to find answers. After all, the only people that would know would be Lady Tsunade, Neji and Hinata and Sasuke did not like asking people for favors.

He put his hand on the scanner to open the room's door and walked inside. He was hungry but honestly didn't want the company of the other nine. He was never one for friends or even just human company- Sakura was the only exception. Sasuke just decided he'd go out for food in the base's cafeteria later since they were told they could have the rest of the day to themselves after training.

He laid on his bed and dozed off, staring at the metal ceiling.

* * *

"Wow for a couple of newbies they're learning fast," a man with a short beard said as he puffed smoke out of his mouth. Tsunade had just switched the screen off after they made their exit out of the simulation room.

"Right you are, Asuma," Tsunade said, a smile lingering on her lips, "What do you think Kakashi?"

The man sitting across from her at the round table nodded, equally as impressed as everyone in the small crowd who watched the ten from the briefing room.

"They'll grow into strong nins, that's for sure," he said through the black mask that covered the lower half of his face, "Though I think Anko was a little bit too harsh with them on their first day."

"Huh," Asuma grunted at his last comment, "The government's lackies are gonna be twice as nasty with them once they head out there."

"Asuma," Tsunade interjected, "Would you do the honor of teaching them Stage 2 when the time comes?"

The said man looked at his superior in surprise. He hadn't gotten to be in this chakra game since he'd gotten slapped with the role as a pilot. Asuma smiled with a furrowed brow and nodded.

"With pleasure."

* * *

_Thank you so much __**grisly blanco **__and guest__for reviewing the first chapter. You guys have given me encouraging and useful critiques that I'm definitely taking into consideration. And also thank you to those who've put alerts because those are encouraging as well! I really appreciate the support and now I'm really looking forward to continuing this story. You won't be disappointed, I promise!_

_And the answer your question, __**grisly blanco**__, is the very first sentence of this chapter hahaha. _

_I hope that I'll keep getting some feedback to make this story that much better in the future. Thank you for reading! Until next chapter~_


	3. Chapter 3

"_How is it progressing?" _

"_Even with the Sloth's chakra I haven't sensed any energy abnormalities so far." _

"_Give me a percent approximation on the progression of your scan." _

"_Only at 15%, sir." _

_Heavy silence overcame the room with only the hum of the computer filling the air. The Sensor sat in his seat, clenching his fists from nervousness. Orochimaru had never come into his workplace in person before… Itachi was the only one who'd come to monitor his progress in the last eight months. What was the occasion for the man to be here now? _

_Through his headpiece's visor, he warily looked at the two silhouettes next to the room's entrance. _

"_Only 15%?" his superior said a little too calmly. _

_The Sensor ran his thumbs over his other fingers, suddenly perspiring faster than before. His heart felt like it was beating its way out of his chest. _

"_Yes, sir," the Sensor's voice cracked, "The other pieces' chakras have completely different frequencies than the Sloth's and the earth's chakra, along with those radiating from cities are still distorting my scans." _

_Silence came again and he wished with every fiber of his being that he wasn't in the same room with Nius's fearsome leader. He felt Orochimaru's chakra wildly churning with absolute bloodlust a few feet away and the intensity almost made him want to scream from fear. _

"_Is that so?" Orochimaru mused. _

_The Sensor tensely nodded, gathering every inch of his will to do so. _

"_Kabuto," Orochimaru turned to the silhouette behind him, "Have we found another Sensor, yet?" _

"_No," his right hand man said. He pushed up his glasses with a gloved finger, reflecting the computer screen's light on his lenses. _

"_But I can speed up the search if you wish." _

_The Sensor felt veins in his head throb and fear struck him like lightning at the last words. A new Sensor only meant curtains for him. His mind exploded into an array of blood splatter, dismembered limbs, and broken bones. His throat suddenly felt dry and the corners of his mouth started to tremble. _

_Suddenly, a small repetitive beeping rang from his program and small parts of earth's continents flashed yellow on the hologram in front of him. The Sensor yelped and jumped back in his seat from surprise. _

_Orochimaru laughed and turned to make his way out the sliding door with Kabuto right on his heels. _

"_Keep up the good work." _

_The Sensor's hands were vigorously shaking, his palms were drenched in sweat and his muscles were tense. He finally took his first breath since Orochimaru entered the room. _

_The man was absolutely terrifying._

* * *

It had been three weeks since they'd been recruited.

Everyday had become routine for everyone: early rise, training with Anko till lunchtime, other training, and the evening to do whatever they desired. They all fell accustomed to life at the base and found it not so bad... almost fun in a way (well, if they weren't being brutally hammered during Anko's sessions). They even made friends with some of the other Rebels they encountered on a regular basis and found small hobbies to do around the base. Some wholeheartedly admitted to being glad that they weren't within Nius's tight borders anymore.

Sasuke didn't voice his feelings but he felt just as glad as those who did. He was away from educational mediocrity and was finally surrounded with knowledge and challenges he'd been thirsting for. Though he fell into routine in his new lifestyle, he was inwardly jocund that it was at least interesting. He didn't feel shackled like he did back home and it was absolutely, positively rejuvenating.

Even with that, he still secluded himself from everybody else. Lady Tsunade and Anko encouraged them to learn more about their nin peers, especially their cellmates, but Sasuke completely ignored the suggestion. He kept to himself during training sessions, hardly conversed with his roommates, and grew habitual in bringing his meals elsewhere from the cafeteria to ignore the urging of the others. He grew more familiar with their names, faces and personalities but he still couldn't care less what they were up to outside of the mission.

"Hey, Sasuke, eat with us for once will you?" Ino would call out to him teasingly from the table the nine usually sat at. Others would also join in on the encouragement but he would just glance at them with overwhelming disinterest and grunt in reply before heading out of the dining hall. He felt he saw enough of them in the morning.

Aside from the propulsor and physical training they received from Anko, the ten were also starting to be trained in aviation for Rebel ships, the utilization of the earth's natural resources, propulsor repair, and other miscellaneous scraps of knowledge Tsunade considered to be vital to their mission. This appealed to Sasuke very much for this 'curriculum' offered much in value, unlike the useless Ancient Runes lessons he'd had. Here, he was soaking in the knowledge like a sponge with genuine thirst for it.

Shikamaru, with his unique position, often studied and trained separately from the other nine. While everyone was training with Anko in the simulation room he'd only be there less than half the time. Sasuke wasn't any bit surprised since it seemed to him that Shikamaru was to carry at least half the weight of this entire mission; the 'special' training was necessary.

That particular day for training, Anko gave them a break from their propulsors and focused more on raw physical combat. After the many rudimentary exercise rounds of push ups, sit-ups and laps around the simulation dome, she cruised them through basic fighting forms. Of course, it came naturally to Neji, Sasuke and surprisingly Lee. Though Sasuke thought, in the back of his mind, he shouldn't be surprised since the guy had been a million years ahead of everybody in the rudimentary exercises. Bowl Cut had crazy stamina.

"Don't worry about details!" Anko yelled as she watched them whack away at rubber dummies with their fists and feet, "A hit's a hit no matter if your elbow isn't tucked in like I've explained to you."

Sasuke continued to land strong hits on the dummy's face and torso, his knuckles starting to redden from the friction. This was easy exercise for him and was just going through the motions while the others were either struggling or getting there.

After a few more minutes of careful observation, Anko told them to stop.

"Okay, that's enough with the dummies!" she said loudly as she pressed a button on her console. The dummies and their metal bars slowly sank down into the floor out of sight.

"Two lines, five in each and face each other!"

They all obeyed without hesitating, having learned not to or else they were to suffer Anko's fire. They scrambled to make the lines as she ordered and stood stiffly like soldiers. She slowly walked down between the lines, arms folded and eyeing all of them.

"This will be a one-on-one spar so I can see how well each of you fights with another opponent," she said sharply, "Hitting dummies is a whole let different than fighting another live enemy, maggots. You may have good forms and good swings but that won't mean squat shit if you can't land a real offensive hit out in the battlefield.

You fight till one of you gives up or I stop the match when I judge victory. No rules… other than don't kill your opponent, because _I'll_ kill you, got it? We need all the nins we can get, strong or not."

Sasuke's palms started to sweat with excitement. After hours of just punching a rubber dummy and going over techniques, his urge for a real fight had grown almost unbearable. He knew he was exceptional among this group- his observations proving that- and just wanted to test his ability, especially against his cellmate, Neji. He'd never fought against another human being, since he just illegally programmed his android back at home as a sparring partner, and now he had the chance.

"When I call your name step forward and face your opponent," Anko announced as she made her way back to the head of the lines, "Alright up first: Ino and Kiba. Kiba, leave your dog."

"Oh man," Kiba laughed as he walked forward, stretching his arms, "This is gonna end in a second. Anko-sensei, can I get matched with someone else?"

"Don't get so cocky, asswipe," Ino said, an evil grin on her face as she went forward to face him, cracking her knuckles as she did.

"Both of you shut the hell up," Anko said, "Remember, you fight until one of you gives up or I declare a victory."

"Yeah."

"Gotcha."

Anko stuck out her hand straight out between them and eyed both nins. Kiba was still smirking and didn't bother to take a fighting stance, remaining arrogantly straight up with on hand on a hip. Ino, meanwhile, turned serious and took a small stance with both hands in front of her torso.

Sasuke hadn't watched the girl in the last few weeks as much as the others, for he thought of her as one of the weakest. Admit, she was stronger than a regular recruit but he still didn't think she'd have a chance against Kiba. He noticed the dog boy to be good in physical combat, though not yet on the same level Neji, Lee, and Sasuke.

Anko shot up her extended hand into the air and bellowed, "BEGIN!"

"Let's make this nice, quick, and easy," Kiba said, "Wouldn't want to make that porcelain face of yours bleed."

"I'll make your dick bleed before that happens," Ino said slyly, flitting her fingers to provoke him to attack, "Come at me."

"Oh ho, feisty," Kiba said chuckling, finally taking a stance, "Alright, you asked for it!"

He charged at her with a roar and sent a strong fist flying at her head. Ino quickly ducked under his punch, pushed both his wrist and ankle with open palms, and -in a split second- flipped him over to his side using his own momentum against him. Kiba landed on his shoulder with a loud thud, completely taken by surprise.

Ino slowly rose up and put a hand on her hips with a smug look on her face, "You focused too much on knocking me out with one hit that you couldn't possibly move your ass fast enough to counter me."

"Argh!" Kiba growled and quickly scrambled to his feet. It was evident from the growing redness on his face that he was embarrassed to having been bested right after his big talk.

He went for her again but this time seemed more aware of Ino's movements along with his own and dodged her punches and kicks. His eyes were trained more on her body than her face and Sasuke knew his concentration was focused more than necessary to avoid being humiliated again. They continued trade more blows: uppercuts, roundhouse kicks, jabs, grabs. The others watched every single movement and tried to predict who was going to emerge the winner.

Ino blocked everything Kiba threw at her, purposely moving to defense while Kiba barraged her with offense. She threw in punches and kicks between his attempts but mostly blocked and dodged. Sasuke wondered what she was up to since she didn't look troubled, tired, or alarmed. Her cerulean eyes were bold like a predator's, sharp and focused.

Kiba continued to shower her with aggressive blows, growling out of anger. He did not want to lose and that was evident to everyone watching. Ino continued to block and dodge, her movements smooth and graceful yet quick and concise. Sasuke watched in interest and inward surprise; he hadn't so much expected her to last this long with Kiba and here she was, looking like she was in control just toying with the boy. He underestimated this girl like Kiba had.

This continued on for more minutes and Sasuke could see from the corner of his eye that Anko was subtly moving up and down on her toes, looking impatient. It was obvious that she didn't expect this fight to last so long and just itched to see someone land a final blow to end it all. He couldn't blame her either, for even though he did give small mental kudos to the Yamanaka for unexpectedly holding her own, his itch to fight wanted him to get out there himself.

"What, getting so tired that you're not able to throw even a single punch anymore?" Kiba smirked through his panting. He threw another punch at her head that Ino blocked with her palm.

"Not one bit," she smirked and pushed his fist down and blocked another kick, "Come on, dickhead, is that all you got? I can do this all day."

"Rrgh!" Kiba growled, pissed off at her nicknames and taunting.

He sent another fist flying and it was the first move all over again. Ino ducked under his punch, pushed his wrist and ankle, and twisted his body over using his momentum against him again. He landed on his face with a crack.

"That's enough," Anko said loudly, impatience and annoyance clear in her tone, "This is dragging on for too long. Ino wins. Now both of you get your asses back in line."

"What?! But I'm not down-" Kiba started to protest angrily as he got up from the floor, rubbing his pained nose.

"Shut it, Inuzuka. It was embarrassing just watching you fight," Anko hissed with a piercing glare, "Blind fury like that against a real enemy is just opening a can of whoop ass that's gonna get you killed. I had enough of watching you fight like a pussy. Now, prance back in line."

Kiba let out a frustrated growl before obeying. Even though he was still angry at the call, he wasn't stupid enough to cross further fire with their instructor. Ino stuck out her tongue at the retreating boy and haughtily made her way back to her spot in between Shino and Lee.

"Next," Anko said looking between both lines, "Neji and Chouji."

The chubby boy nervously approached the center space while the other walked with a posture that just radiated confidence. Sasuke knew Chouji had no chance against Neji, who he had been watching the most. The Imperial reject was fearsome with lightning movements Sasuke could almost barely track, form that was even more graceful than Ino's but three times as strong, and his intimidating natural scowl.

"BEGIN!"

Chouji alarmingly sprang into a defensive stance looking like a frightened animal. Neji acted like lightning and charged at the other boy with an open palm pulled back. Chouji yelped and barely dodged Neji's hands when he forcefully extended it like a punch. As Chouji ducked and stepped towards the left side, his opponent shot out his knee and nailed him in gut. Neji's other hand came up from his side and the bottom of his palm painfully cracked Chouji's chin, throwing his head and whole body backwards.

"Too slow," the white-eyed boy said coolly as he straightened out his stance again.

Blood was dripping from Chouji's mouth as he wheezed in breaths from the hit he took to his stomach. His neck throbbed in pain from the whiplash and his chin felt like it was on fire. He slowly got up from the ground and looked at Anko with pleading eyes.

"I-I don't want to fight him," he said with a shaking voice.

"What was that?!" Anko yelled, "Are you giving up, boy, even when you haven't thrown at least a single punch?!"

"I-I don't want to fight him!" Chouji almost yelled back, his voice cracking.

Sasuke, and everyone else in the simulation room, knew what was coming.

Anko glared at the boy with such ferocity that Sasuke almost expected her to lunge at him like a wildcat and rip him to shreds with her bare teeth. She briskly walked over to him, fists clenched and shoulders bold. She stopped right in front of him, her eyes slightly looking up at Chouji who looked like he was going to need a change of pants soon.

"_You are a warrior now, maggot!_" Anko yelled so loudly that her voice pierced all of them, "_In the real battlefield you have no choice on who your opponent is_. _You fight and you fight_ _for your life because there won't be anyone_ _to come to save your fat ass out there!_"

Chouji trembled with genuine fear visible in his eyes. What made it scarier to the others was that Anko had used the forbidden term of 'fat ass' and Chouji was still shaking out of his wits. This woman was beyond scary when she was pissed. Sasuke almost felt bad for the guy though he thought he seriously needed a backbone so badly that it was almost annoying.

"Do you understand me?" Anko's voice sank low, dangerous and full of venom, "Your pussy ass is a nin now and you'll be a dead nin if you can't fight for yourself. Fear will chew you up and shit you out dead."

"I-I u-understand," Chouji stammered, his eyes starting to water.

Anko then averted her glare from the trembling boy and trained it all around the others who stood around them.

"That goes for all of you, too," she said, her voice louder though not exactly a yell, "The fight will be real with your lives and the fate of the world's existence on the line. If you can't fight here, in this _simulation _room, then you might as well go back to Nius and have your hides thrown into the Proto Gates because we have no fucking room for cowards.

"This is war even if only you little kids and a handful of the government's lackeys are fighting it. If that hasn't sunk into you yet then let this little lecture be your goddamn reality check. You all understand me?"

"Yes, sir," they all chorused, half of them visibly almost as terrified as Chouji. Anko eyed all of them with piercing eyes that were burning with fury.

"Good," she said sharply, "Now get your sorry asses out of here and out of my sight. We'll pick this up tomorrow; I've had enough with your bullshit for today."

They all briskly made their way out of the simulation room, wary of Anko's fiery temper and not wanting to get in her line of fire or else they'd be beaten half to death on the spot. Sasuke himself was a bit on the agitated side, though he didn't physically show it, but then realized that what Anko had said was true.

None of them genuinely knew what their mission was. They accepted it without even having a true grasp of what was bestowed upon them, the nature of the outside world they'd have to dive into and not even having a full understanding of their abilities. It was stupid when Sasuke thought about it. They took eight Nius citizen kids, basically kidnapped them, then threw the biggest responsibility of the century at their pampered faces?

Besides, they said they had other nins so why didn't they get the job?

Sasuke pushed his racing thoughts out of his head as he made his way back to the room with the full intention to relax his agitation away.

He was disappointed that he hadn't gotten the chance to fight.

* * *

Sasuke climbed the metal stairs with his meal tray in his hands, annoyed and already bored.

He didn't know why he'd agreed to meet up with his cellmates at the loft of the base to lounge around for the night. But Lady Tsunade and Anko noticed and grew tired of his anti-social attitude, so he knew he couldn't ignore them or the others any longer. But he still didn't look forward to 'bonding' with either Ino or Neji or anyone else for that matter. He just wanted to learn, get stronger, and jump right into the real mission.

Damn, this was a total drag.

Sasuke reached the top of the narrow staircase and came up to a door. He placed his hand on the scanner and it slid open with a hush, revealing a moderately sized room with a glass wall shaped as half a dome. The room was dimly lit that reminded Sasuke of a romantic setting from the movie spheres he'd watched out of boredom.

The room was completely different from the rest of the metallic, cold rebel base. The floor was red carpet, leather sofas were set neatly all around the room, wooden tables with intricate carvings accompanied them, and the walls were adorned with regal decoration. A fridge stood in one corner with a counter and seats to its right. Thin television screens hung from the ceiling.

Sasuke took in the totally different setting, soaking in the home-like grandness he had apparently forgotten. Even the cafeteria and break rooms were just as plain and equipped as the rest of the base. He had to admit, this was nice for a change.

His eyes landed on two silhouettes sitting at the far end of the room, looking out the glass wall down at the city lights. His eyes slightly widened at the awesome sight, the dimness of the room amplifying his perception of dancing lights from the city's buildings.

Ever since he'd been at the base he hadn't bothered to wonder exactly where the base was located. From the view he saw before his eyes, he knew that it was definitely not within Nius's borders for the empire was at sea level and not overlooking another city from a distance. Where was this place? It was gorgeous in the night.

"Well, well. Looks like he actually showed up," someone's voice cut into his thoughts.

Sasuke looked to source of the voice and his eyes landed on Ino had who turned around in her sitting position to face him. Though it was dim in the room, her blonde hair was light enough for him to recognize. She was sitting on the floor a few feet away from Neji who had also turned his attention to him, their meal trays and bottles sitting between them. His white eyes looked relaxed, almost glowing in the darkness.

Sasuke walked over to them and saw that they were actually sitting at the head of carpet steps that descended a few feet down to the edge of the glass wall. He sat down a few feet on the other side of Neji and set his tray down beside him without so much of a response.

"I know you're not much of a talker," Ino said, her voice annoyed, "But jeez, at least say something once in a while. I'm starting to think you're a mute."

Sasuke frowned at her as he took a piece of bread from his tray, "I'm not a mute."

"Oh my," Ino said with sarcastic shock and placed an exaggerated hand on her chest, "It actually _speaks_."

"Hmph," Sasuke lightly grunted. This girl was annoying. She impressed him earlier but she was still annoying.

"You're no fun," she said, sighing, "I'd get a better reaction from Kiba."

Awkward silence befell between the three as they ate and trained their eyes on the magnificent sight before them. Ino had unexpectedly come up to him earlier telling him to meet up at the loft that night so they could 'bond' as a team for once. They were apparently the only team that hasn't come together in the last few weeks and Ino was tired of butting into others. Before Sasuke could say no, Anko had come up behind him and threatened him with a painful smack on the back.

"Yeah, Sasuke's balls would _love_ too unless they want to be cut off and served at the cafeteria," she had said cheerfully, "Right?"

Damn that Anko.

But now Sasuke could see why Ino had chosen the loft as their 'bonding' place- the view was just outstanding. It looked much better up closer than where he stood at the door and it made him just want to stare at it all day. The black silhouettes of mountains and trees looked as if they framed the gorgeous sight from where they sat and the blue nebulas beautifully looked closer than they did from Nius.

He was half glad that he actually went up to the loft.

"So…" Ino said, letting out a little burp, "I think proper introductions should happen here since this is actually the first time I've talked to either of you."

"My name is Hyuuga Neji," Neji said after he took a sip of water.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said with a bored monotone.

"No, I know your names, idiots," Ino said, glaring at the two, "I mean telling each other about ourselves."

"Not really much to say," Sasuke said, chugging down the last of his water. He had no care for learning anything about either of them even if they were his cellmates. He couldn't care less.

"Just my luck," Ino sighed, "Getting to work with two rocks while everyone else is having fun."

"Two rocks have to balance an obnoxious firecracker," Neji said.

Sasuke smirked at the other boy's comment, now suddenly amused. Learning that Neji was just as collected as him, he didn't expect something funny to come out of the his mouth… or anything at all for that matter.

Ino narrowed her eyes, a bigger shadow embracing them, "I correct myself: I'm working with two assholes.

"But whatever," she shrugged, "Anyway, if neither of you wants to introduce yourselves then I might as well go first. I'm Yamanaka Ino, 17 years old, blood type B just as an FYI. I'm from the Seventh Prefecture in Nius, my family owns a flower shop so I've grown to love gardening, and I absolutely hate assholes like you two. Alright, your turn."

Neji and Sasuke smirked at Ino's jab at them. Though they found her annoying, they each inwardly gave her credit for having the nerve to talk to them with such a tongue. Especially since all the others were courteous to them, save for Kiba.

"Very well," Neji said, taking his turn, "I shall introduce myself."

Sasuke's ears suddenly went alert. He realized that something like this was what he'd been waiting for about Neji. His curiosity for the Imperial reject had grown outstanding over the past few weeks, especially because of his status. The guy was insanely strong and intelligent, which just tugged on Sasuke's wonder on why Neji was rejected as an Imperial Soldier… and how did he manage to escape being incinerated?

"My name is Hyuuga Neji," he continued, "I am 18 years old and blood type O if you must know. Imperial reject from the Fifth Prefecture and I like meditation. I highly dislike disorder."

"Oh, that's right," Ino jumped in, tapping her chin, "You're an Imperial reject. Why exactly were you rejected, if you don't mind me asking?"

Sasuke was glad she had asked the question he was dying to answer. He hated probing people himself and usually found other ways to figure out information. Up until now he hadn't found a chance.

"I don't mind, but I suppose I should start with some background to avoid confusion," Neji simply said, resting his arms on his knees and looking out of the glass window,

"I was born and trained to be an Imperial Soldier my whole life, along with my cousin Hinata, who is also one of us here. We were of the Fifth Prefecture's Alpha Class of Imperial Soldiers, meaning we were bred to be commanders, generals, and others heads of the Nius Fleet in the prefecture. The Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon classes were to be all under our command, so you can imagine the utter pressure shoved on our shoulders.

"We were expected to be the best of the best with a third of the Fleet's efforts going to our exclusive group. The training began right when we turned three and we were continuously forced to annihilate each other in combat, mercilessly ground to the floor, and excessively brainwashed in our sleep to the point where every candidate lost their sanity at a young age. "

Sasuke recalled the transcripts he'd read of the Imperial Soldier's harsh adolescent life but was still mesmerized of the same information for it was coming out of a real candidate who'd experienced it all. What seemed like worlds away was sitting right in front of him.

"Candidates eventually grew into flesh machines with a mind that belonged to the Fleet. However, my cousin and I managed to retain ourselves through the struggle, though we don't know why or how. It's completely unknown to us, including even Lady Tsuande. We kept it our little secret and went along with the process just like everyone else lest we'd be incinerated."

"Even if you weren't one of the tightwad machines… why were you rejected?" Ino suddenly asked, leaning in with her chin resting on her fist, "You fight better than a lot of Imperial Soldier's I've seen."

"They discovered us right when I was to graduate into the Colonel position," Neji said slowly, "and disposed of us like any other who failed to keep up and abide with the process' criteria. One of Lady Tsunade's agents, Genma if I remember correctly, broke into our cell hours before our scheduled incineration and switched us with lookalikes they'd altered to look identical to us."

"That's horrible," Ino cringed, "Innocent people sacrificed like that…"

"Horrible as it may be, I'm disgustingly thankful it happened," Neji said, letting out a small sigh, "We escaped death that was fated by tyranny and here we are now with a new destiny to fulfill. I can wholeheartedly say I'd prefer this than being burnt alive."

"Wow," Ino said, "I knew Imperial Soldiers were exclusively bred but I seriously did not know how harsh the Fleet was."

Sasuke absorbed every single word of Neji's story with interest he would admit or show to anybody. His curiosity was finally satisfied even though his explanation wasn't the large, glory escape Sasuke was expecting. So Neji was of the glorious Alpha class, which explained why his caliber compared to the rest of them was out of their league.

"Your cousin was an Alpha too?" Sasuke spoke for the first time through the storytelling, "She's not half as strong as you are from I can tell… so how did she last so long?"

"I subtly fought to keep her alive," Neji said, closing his eyes, "We were cousins and she's the only family I knew of since the natural tradition is completely obsolete within the Fleet. I suppose you can say we kept each other sane through all of it.

"But I feel like I've taken my turn for too long," he said, opening his eyes and glancing at the two on either side of him.

"Alright, Pretty Boy," Ino said bluntly, "It's your turn."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said, "17 years old and from the Second Prefecture. I like anything useful and dislike anything useless."

"Wow, you're pretty damn deep," Ino said sarcastically, looking bored as she rested her chin on her knees, "Come on, Dark and Brooding #2, I'm sure you got more to say."

Sasuke glared at the girl from the corner of his eye with irritation. The girl sure knew how to run her mouth.

"My parents died when I was too young to remember," he finally said after she exaggeratedly gestured him to talk, "and that's all that's worth mentioning."

"Not even a lover back in Nius that you had to horribly leave behind?" Ino asked dramatically, though Sasuke picked up traces of real curiosity.

His thoughts suddenly moved to the thought of Sakura who he'd unintentionally pushed out of his mind the last few weeks. She wasn't a lover but she was the closest thing he'd accepted as a friend his whole life- he couldn't help but think of her at the mention of someone back home.

Sasuke, in that moment, never realized how much he actually missed her… surprised that he even missed her at all because he'd never missed anything in his life. Worry that he'd felt the first day he was at the base abruptly came back and faintly tugged on his emotions. He hadn't asked Lady Tsunade of what happened to Sakura from her absence in his consciousness and now he urged to do so.

"Sakura," he said absentmindedly, then realized he accidentally thought out loud.

"Ooooh, now we're getting somewhere. What's she like?" Ino asked excitedly, scooting up against Neji and leaning over his lap to get closer to Sasuke.

The Imperial reject seemed unfazed by the contact and also looked at him, though Sasuke couldn't tell if he was genuinely interested or just listening for the sake of getting familiar with each other.

"She's just a friend," Sasuke frowned at Ino then turned his sights back on the view, "I was walking out from the academy with her when Yamato tried to recruit me. The Imperial Soldiers identified him and shot an explosive our way. I was thrown into the hover car and last thing I heard was her screaming my name."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Ino said, her voice soft for the first time either boys have heard.

"I, too," Neji said, nodding.

Suddenly, beeping sounded through the whole room from the intercom system: their fifteen-minute warning before all doors were to be locked for the night.

"Well, looks like it's time to go to bed," Ino said, using Neji's lap as leverage to stand up, "I gotta go quick before the other girls hog the bathroom for too long."

She picked up her tray and smiled brightly at both of them, completely contrasting her usual feistiness.

"It was nice to finally get to know you assholes," she said, though there was no trace of contempt or annoyance in her words, "I'll see you guys tomorrow morning, yeah?"

They both nodded and off she went, her blond ponytail swaying with every step she took.

"Let's head back to our room ourselves, shall we?" Neji said as the door slid closed behind Ino. He got up from his seat and Sasuke followed suit, oddly feeling less awkward with his roommate.

"It was nice to finally actually meet you, Sasuke," Neji turned to him with a slightly extended hand, "I've been wanting to converse with you for quite a while."

"Likewise," Sasuke said, taking his hand and giving it a shake, "Except I've been itching to fight you, too."

Neji gave a small smile as they let go of each other's hands.

"And one of these days we shall."

* * *

_Wow, that was seriously a long one LOL. Sorry for the extended wait for this chapter; school's just been bombarding me and with my other fic projects going on it's just hard to have time to write._

_But thank you so much for the favs, follows and especially reviews! __**grisly blanco **__and __**Superdango**__, you guys gave some very much needed feedback and I seriously appreciate you guys taking the time to write detailed reviews. I've tried to incorporate your advice and I hope I did... lol. Also, thank you __**ShikaInoInuKikIchiHime36 **__and __**Mari301**__dropping even simple reviews. They keep me going!_

_More characters will make their appearances in the next chapter because I couldn't find them a spot in this one and I thought it was already long enough. So forgive me D:_

_But anyway, feedback would be greatly appreciated so I can further make this story better and better. And also, if you've watched the movie Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, be sure to check out my fic for it! I'll be updating it soon, also._

_Until next chapter~_

**_EDIT: I forgot to mention this and just remembered but I also have a song that I thought fit well with the feel of his story if you guys are interested! Just search "The Glitch Mob - Animus Vox (Geek Beat Remix)" on youtube. :) I love the original song but I thought this remix's different touches sounded slightly better. Enjoy!_**


	4. Chapter 4

"_Wh- where am I? What's going on?" a frightened voice gasped in the darkness. _

_She could swear her eyes were open, but the blackness was still there. A creeping feeling prickled the back of her neck and traveled down her spine with such intensity that she started to vigorously shake. She didn't know where she was or how she'd gotten there; her memory of the last few weeks was completely absent. _

"_Don't be afraid," a low voice said soothingly, "You won't be harmed." _

_Her eyes finally adjusted to the dark and saw a pair of red eyes softly looking straight at her a few feet away. She tried to move but realized she was strapped down to a seat by the wrists and ankles. _

"_Who- who are you?!" she almost screamed, adrenaline and fear frantically coursing through her body. _

_The red eyes only narrowed as if it were discerning every piece of her, making the fear pump even faster. The shadowed figure didn't move and didn't respond to her question. _

_A door suddenly hissed open and two figures approached the man with the red eyes. _

"_Who's this, Itachi? And why the hell is it always so dark in here, hm?" the one with discernable long hair said annoyingly. _

"_A new addition to our team, Deidara," the man with red eyes, Itachi, said without diverting his eyes from her. _

"_What do we need a new member for, hm? We don't need any more useless baggage to carry. Besides, I thought we already established our cells." _

"_Orochimaru ordered me to take her," Itachi replied evenly, "She'll be a great asset, believe me." _

"_Asset? Asset for what?" she yelled, clenching her fists, "What are you going to do to me?!" _

"_Such a loud one, hm?" Deidara said disdainfully, "We don't need another volume as annoying as Tobi." _

_Itachi, ignoring his last comment, turned to look at the other figure standing beside him._

"_Now, Kabuto, why have you come here? Did Orochimaru send for me?" _

"_Yes," Kabuto replied with a nod, "We've found another Sensor."_

"_Did you dispose of the previous one?" _

"_Yes, the second our new anchor agreed, he was incinerated," Kabuto nodded, not flinching at the mention of the murder of their previous Sensor. _

_She tightened her knuckles and sucked in a breath, every nerve seething from the fear of a similar fate. She was held down on a seat and these three were conversing like nothing was odd about the setting, almost casual. It was driving her insane. _

"_I don't understand why he's got to kill the other one, hm," Deidara said, "Wouldn't two Sensors get the job done faster?" _

"_Only one Sensor can sync in with the Flux Propulsor at a time," Kabuto said informatively with a push on his glasses, "and loose ends lead to trouble…"_

"…_Speaking of which," he continued, training his eyes on the female figure secured down on the seat, "I do hope this one won't be as such, Itachi." _

_She sucked in another breath, more ragged and short from the ever-increasing adrenaline. It felt as if her death was mere seconds away._

"_I assure you," Itachi said lowly then narrowed his eyes at her again._

"_She won't be."_

* * *

"Ino, watch your left," Sasuke heard Neji's voice through his headset.

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" she aggressively responded with a grunt.

Sasuke watched her aircraft abruptly twist to the right to avoid a glowing missile of chakra flying her way, a profanity following her maneuver. The distance between the hunk of sleek metal and the blast couldn't have been more than a few feet- she was cutting it way too close.

Sasuke's eyes then flashed to his right when he saw another missile coming his direction and avoided it with a quick flick of his wrist on the joystick controls. The three aircraft cut through the dense air, cloudy trails from their tails and the sounds of roaring jet engines filling the elevated atmosphere.

"Sasuke, take the left flank," Neji commanded, his voice slightly crackling from the signal, "I'll take right flank. Ino, take center. You're practically blind on your left side."

"Roger that, _el capitan_," Ino said sarcastically, evidently insulted by his last comment, but Sasuke knew she realized it herself- it was the third time she'd barely dodged a missile.

The three aircrafts shifted positions as Neji instructed, more missiles coming their way from other crafts currently flying in a distorted formation ahead of them. The team's target, a large hovering ring in the air kilometers away, grew closer and closer as more Fleet ships appeared from behind chunks of clouds. The three continued to dodge and fire, destroying the ships that dared to fly close to them enough, with their target almost within their reach.

The mission had been going on for at least two hour and the three were exhausted- though none of them chose to admit it. It was obstacle after obstacle, one after another, and they were finally in their last stretch with less than two minutes to go. They were almost there; their goal was so close.

Then, much to their dismay, more Fleet ships appeared and began to fly into a thick wall with minimal amount of space in between each craft. It was seriously the mother of all obstacles they'd faced throughout the simulation assignment.

"How are we gonna get past _that_?!" Ino asked, incredulous. It seemed that there was no way to blast through all of them without being blasted first; the ships were packed so tightly in one formation that there was no room to fly through on top of being just too many of them.

"We have one minute and 30 seconds left," Neji said, his voice sounding a little more aggravated than usual, "With our current plan in this formation, we have no choice but to fire through to make it in time."

"But if we do that, we'll get blown out of the sky first! Do you not see how many Fleet ships there are?" Ino's voice cracked and Sasuke could tell she was apprehensive of what was to happen next.

She was correct with the fact that if they decide to fire through the wall, they'd just end up being bombarded with missiles from the other craft they wouldn't be fast enough to destroy. They would fail the assignment and that was something Sasuke did not want to do, especially having gone through levels of simulations without a loss so far. So what was there to do in the last minute they had? His mind raced.

"We fly in a straight line," Sasuke said bluntly, "Ino up front and Neji behind me. Keep half a kilometer's distance in between."

"How is that going to make a difference?" Ino said, "We're still going to be blasted into pieces if we fly straight at them-"

"Do you want to win this assignment or not?" Sasuke interrupted with an annoyed tone. He heard Ino's voice grunt, about to say something, but was then followed by a growl of frustration. She had no other argument against him.

"Fine!" she said and her ship accelerated ahead of the other two and flew straight in front of his many yards away. Neji didn't offer any form of a reply and merely moved his ship as Sasuke had directed. In all honesty, he did not care if the Imperial reject trusted him enough to take charge in the last fifty seconds they had, but Sasuke just wanted to complete the task even if the victory wasn't going to be as clean as the others.

The three were a kilometer away from the wall of aircrafts when the Fleet began to fire chakra missiles in their direction, almost coming like rain. They continued to evade and shoot like they had for the last duration of the assignment, each nin's hearts beating quickly in alertness.

"Twenty seconds," Neji said.

"Ino, push through!" Sasuke yelled, realizing that she was starting to fall back from the doubt in his vague plan. He fired at the ships closest on either side of him and accelerated, coming to less than two hundred feet of Ino.

"Neji, keep firing," he commanded, "Cover me."

Then, Sasuke abruptly pulled his craft out of the linear formation and dove right under the Fleet wall, completely taking his two teammates by surprise. However, the rain of missiles didn't cease and the other two were forced to face the barrage alone.

"What the-?!" Ino gasped in bewilderment at Sasuke's stunt, her attention completely diverted as she looked through the thick glass window down at him.

"_Ino!"_ she heard Neji's yell through her headpiece. Her head whipped forward when she realized that she had carelessly let herself get distracted, even for a few seconds. A Fleet ship straight ahead of her fired, a flash of yellow light coming directly at her so quickly that she had no time to react. The chakra missile ran into her ship, exploding on impact.

The flashing light purple triangle on Sasuke's radar faded away, but he paid no mind to it. Neji's grey triangle was still online, his ship evidently flying the best it could through the barrage of ships that had broken from their wall formation. At least he was holding his own; Sasuke figured he could take care of himself for the last fifteen seconds.

Sasuke maneuvered his ship to dodge the assault that came from behind him as he vertically flew up to the ring. His emergence from below the wall had triggered some of the other ships to break formation and follow him, but he found it all right; it made things that much more exciting in the last stretch of the race. The countdown hologram appeared on the visor of his headset. It was almost time and he was almost there.

_5… 4… 3… 2… 1_

Sasuke's ship flew straight through the hovering ring right when the counter hit one and his screen immediately flashed a green tint, signaling that the assignment had been completed. They had won.

Everything in front of him then faded into whiteness, then black. Sasuke slowly opened his eyes as if he just woken and saw the same controls of his ship, though no longer lit up and powered down. The simulation cockpit was dark and humid from their extensive training session that led up to their final assignment for the day and felt sweaty. But still, they had won and now all Sasuke wanted to do was lay in his bed until dinner for that particular day had been irrititatingly longer than usual. He groggily unfastened the belts that held him down to his seat and cranked down the handles to open the cockpit's gull wing doors. He then slipped out and landed down on the metal floor of the large Aviation simulator room; his other cellmates also exiting their simulation ships that hung from the ceiling.

He turned in time to see Ino in her black and purple body suit stomping towards him with body language that screamed anger.

"The fuck was that, Chicken Head?" she yelled as she roughly took off her simulation helmet. She took the headset off so quickly that her ponytailed hair had come partially undone and looked comical with pieces of hair sticking out in a mess.

"What?" Sasuke said, glaring at her as he calmly took his helmet off.

"Right when I thought you actually pulled out a good plan out of your ass, you just ended up completely selling me out," Ino said through gritted teeth, briskly making her way towards him with an accusing finger, "We're supposed to be a team and if not we're at least supposed to function like one. And if you ask me, what happened was definitely not goddamn teamwork."

"I don't see why you're so worked up," Sasuke scoffed at her confrontation, "We won the simulation assignment."

"That doesn't mean jack," Ino spat, pressing her finger right into his chest, "If that was a real mission, with real missiles being fired at us, I would have been _dead_."

"Sasuke," Neji said, coming up behind her with his own helmet under his arm, "I'm afraid she's right. Despite completing the assignment, we failed in terms of teamwork and we can't let simulation cloud reality."

Sasuke glared at them, his onyx eyes flashing annoyance. He internally realized that, indeed, if the simulation were real Ino would have been blown to pieces by the missile, but he knew that the chance he took was the only one they had. Being the calculating individual he was, he outweighed the risk with the goal.

"There was no other way," Sasuke said, "and I know you both damn knew that."

"Yes, there was," Ino retorted, "There's never just one-"

"The mission is the first priority," Sasuke rudely interrupted, still glaring at them and feeling anger slowly rising, "That's what Lady Tsunade said and it's annoying how that hasn't gone through your heads. Hell if I care if one of my 'teammates' is too incompetent to survive."

Ino's eyes and nostrils suddenly flared like a bull's and she lunged at him with hands balled into angry fists.

"_You jerk!" _

Neji automatically threw his arms around the infuriated girl, as if he knew it were to end up like this, and restrained her from throwing any punches. Ino continued to squirm under his hold, yelling colorful profanities while Sasuke just stared, not amused.

"Ino, calm down," Neji said sternly and not letting her break free, "Walk it off."

"You're taking his side?!" she stopped squirming and yelled at him with the same glare, "I can't believe you!"

"No," he replied bluntly, "I'm not siding with him. In fact, I completely disagree with him, but go walk it off. That's enough tension for one day."

Ino growled and shot one last glare at Sasuke before storming out of the aviation simulator room. Her heavy footsteps echoed on the metal and disappeared once the sliding doors closed shut with a hiss. Sasuke moved to the opposite doors on the other side of the dome, not intending to stick around either.

"Sasuke," Neji said before his roommate could walk too far, "Ino's right. There could have been other ways to complete the assignment. We just needed time to form a different plan."

Sasuke stopped in his tracks and gave a dark chuckle.

"Of all people, I thought _you_ would genuinely understand our mission," he said, his back still facing his cellmate, "We, through the insurmountable current of fate, have the burden of the whole world's existence on our shoulders. You think there's room for '_forming a different plan'_ once we're out there fighting for our lives?"

Neji folded his arms and didn't say anything, wanting to hear more of where he was going with this.

"No, I personally don't think so," Sasuke continued, looking over his shoulder with a glare, "It's all or nothing."

"All or nothing?" Neji said.

"I'd assume you'd know that idea pretty well, being an Imperial reject. We either give it our all or we die trying. There's no room for incompetence, and I'd assume you'd know that idea well, too."

Neji blinked and kept his stoic demeanor, ignoring the insult. He then sighed and shifted his weight to his other leg.

"Alright, so let's say we're already out on our mission. We're flying in the same formation we did today and on our way to find the Soluroid pieces. Ino has already picked up some traces of one of them, but can't discern it enough unless we get closer to the estimated area."

"What is this? Role play?" Sasuke rudely interjected.

"Imagine it. Right when she nails the chakra signature, we're ambushed by the Fleet and Ino's ship is decimated."

"If she keeps flying the way she does, then she really will get killed that way."

"You're missing my point," Neji said sharply, "If our simulation today was real and if Ino had died, we would have no Sensor and with no Sensor, we would have no way to find the Soluroid pieces. We'd be one full team short and that would ultimately lead to the government winning the scavenger hunt. The entire mission would be lost."

Sasuke opened his mouth to counter, but then shut it closed when he realized what Neji said was every bit true.

"You think you understand our purpose, but you isolate yourself so much that you forget that this mission is a team effort, whether you like it or not," Neji continued, "This was why they're only training three of us as Sensors and the rest, in essence, to be their bodyguards. That way, the focus is concentrated enough to find the pieces as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"Either way, if we still lose our Sensor, we're done for."

"Which is exactly why this is a _team effort_. If we're fighting for the world, which you're seemingly so enthusiastic about, we first have to fight for ourselves and each other. I personally don't prefer to work in cells, but for this it's crucial."

Sasuke only stared at him as he relayed his words over in his head. He absolutely hated being proved wrong or convinced to counter his original mindset, but he was sensible enough to know sense when he heard it. Truth be told, his drive was not solely for the safety of the world as Neji had assumed, but for the challenge itself. Still, he hated being swayed out of his way.

"Hmph," he grunted and even though he agreed with Neji, walked out of the room without a word.

* * *

"He really isn't a team player, is he?" Kakashi mused as they replayed footage the computer recorded of the team's last assignment. They watched as Ino's ship was destroyed by the head on collision with a chakra missile.

"He's the least willing to work together with anybody," Asuma added, "Does this kid just have trust issues?"

"His files I read on his sphere confirm so," Yamato said, "though not in those words exactly."

"I think it's something more than that," Kakashi said, pressing a holographic button on the desk to replay the footage over again, "If you watch how he moves, he's just as skilled as that Imperial reject, Neji, and Alphas are trained in flight the second they're able to walk."

"Then it's just arrogance from being so capable," Yamato said, "if that's what you're trying to get at."

Kakashi didn't reply and stroked his chin with his index finger in thought. Uchiha Sasuke was so much like his brother in terms of possessing high potential from what was observed in the last month and a half. The boy excelled much farther than the others, almost neck and neck with Neji. He aced everything they threw at him during random evaluations and could keep up with Anko's brutal training. He really was an Uchiha, to say the least.

"But how is Stage 2 going to work with his attitude?" Yamato asked when the masked nin didn't answer.

"You _make_ it work," Asuma grinned.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, reasoning that with his abilities, Asuma would be the better fit to train Sasuke and his cellmates when the time came for Stage 2.

"Alright then, since Lady Tsunade said she'd let us choose our cells when she left, Cell 3 is all yours, Asuma," he said.

* * *

Sasuke laid in his bed, unable to fall asleep from the thoughts actively, and annoyingly, dancing around in his head. His short talk with Neji in the simulation room bothered him more than it should have and it irritated him to no end. He felt as if he had been rudely awakened with some of his pride embarrassingly robbed of its worth, making him angry both at himself and his teammates. After all, he wasn't wrong with the fact that the mission really was the first priority, but apparently he was just insensitive when regarding the means to accomplish their goal.

It still pissed him off all the same.

In his bed, he turned to his right side and gazed at the dead room he slept in. The air was dryly quiet, with the only sounds coming from Shikamaru's and Neji's soft breathing. It was late in the night, the digital clock reading 3AM, and Sasuke should have found sleep by then. The irritation and anger just wouldn't let him.

He thought over the events of the assignment and tried to imagine it as if it were a real life mission. Again, he internally admitted that what Neji pointed out was true but he could never admit that explicitly out loud. He, however, still had no intention to apologize to anyone or communicate his little revelation. His pride just wouldn't let him.

Suddenly, the room ferociously shook as if an earthquake had hit and was then followed by muffled sounds of explosions and more quakes. The lights of the room frantically flashed a bright red and the wail of a siren tore through the metal walls. The distress alarm had been triggered. Sasuke scrambled out of his bed along with the other two who had woken up from the first shake, all three not having the least bit of an idea of what the hell was going on.

Shikamaru was the first to move, hastily putting on his tracksuit he'd strewn over the side of his bunk, "Something's happening! Get changed and head out!"

"_Alert! Alert!"_ the familiar female voice of the base's computer sounded over the intercom, _"Code red! Code red! Base under fire! Base under fire! All units mobilize! All units mobilize!" _

Sasuke was barely able to properly throw on his tracksuit jacket as he and his roommates immediately stormed out of their dorm, not even waiting for the door to slide completely open. The hallway was in chaos with the other Rebels on their floor running in different directions, all faces grim or alert. The shaking and sounds of explosions hadn't stopped and it was evident that whoever was attacking the base had no intention to cease any time soon.

Anko, who had appeared out of nowhere in the dim light, roughly grabbed Shikamaru by the arm of his tracksuit and tugged on him as she ran past.

"You three! Follow me!" she yelled over the repetitive intercom and siren.

"What's going on?" Sasuke asked, dodging others who ran the opposite way as he tried to keep up with Anko. The place was in much more chaos the more they weaved through the web of hallways.

"The base is under fire. Half of Building C's been blown into pieces. Everyone's mobilizing to counter the attacks and defend the rest of the base."

"Counter who?" Shikamaru inquired in a yell, though he knew his guess was almost one hundred percent correct. The base was secluded up in the mountains, many miles away from Nius's borders, with extremely heavy security protocols and even a cloaking device to hide the location from any satellite and radar. There would be no one else who possessed the resources to be able to track it down.

"The Fleet," Anko replied, glancing over her shoulder at the three young men who trailed her, "They've found us."

They continued to run through the dorm's hallways and into the main building's larger ones, everyone they ran past looking busy or frightened. Sasuke then realized, for the first time ever since they'd been recruited, almost all the Rebels were ordinary humans that didn't posses the same ability he and the others had, and now they were going to face Imperial Soldiers head on for the first time on their own soil. The older ones were shouting commands to the younger ones, some even looking younger than the new nin batch, and urgently tried to get each other to their stations or geared up.

"Where are we heading?" Neji shouted as they entered the main lobby of the base, which was in even more disarray than the hallways with people scrambling to run to their destination.

"To get your propulsors in the simulation room," their instructor said, "You're getting in this shit fight, too."

Sasuke felt a tingle of adrenaline pulse through his body and electrocute his skin. This was definitely exciting for him, the chaos around him and the shaking of the ground feeding his thirst for action, and it was finally the time they were to face real danger instead of simulation. Yes, it was definitely exciting.

They were halfway through the large room when the thick wall of glass at the front of the lobby broke into a million pieces from another explosion. The four, along with everyone else scurrying about, were thrown off balance at the impact. Rattled, but still able composed, they looked up to see who was responsible for the sudden attack. A blonde man with an eyepiece over his left eye standing atop a fearsome looking white chakra bird appeared from the smoke where the explosion had occurred. His hands were held out and they could faintly see a dark chrome plate on his palms with a yellow glow and gapes that mechanically open and closed. It was the man's propulsor.

"This is quite fun, hm?" he sneered at his startled audience below him, "I finally get to blow things up for once!"

"Deidara. Shit, one of them's here," Anko cursed through gritted teeth and her eyes widening in alert, 'Then that could mean-"

She didn't finish her sentence and immediately whipped her head to the three behind her, her demeanor completely at the height of urgency.

"Change of plans!" she shouted aggressively, then turned to resume their run as the other already armed rebels started to fire their chakra-powered guns at the blonde man and his chakra bird. Deidara continued to fly over the lobby and dropped chakra explosives at random to the people below him, each bomb detonating the second they touched the ground. People's yells and screams echoed throughout the room and into the hallway the four had entered.

Anko pressed a small button on her collar that connected to her earpiece and practically bellowed into it, "_Kakashi! Asuma! Kurenai! Yamato! They're here to take them! Deidara's here and who knows which Akatsuki members are here too? We need to get them out of here, STAT. I've already got Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke with me. Find rest of the seven, grab their propulsors and get to Hanger 4!" _

Akatsuki? Sasuke exchanged questioning glances with Neji and Shikamaru as they continued to run. It was evident that none of them was familiar with the name, but from the situation, and the way Anko was suddenly twice as alert as before, they inferred that this Akatsuki definitely posed as dire trouble. The Deidara man who'd appeared, undeniably the source of the multiple explosions that shook the whole base, sent even Anko in a state of panic. That fact said a lot about them alone.

"Captain Anko! The Imperial Soldiers are charging in through the gape of Building C!" one of the younger Rebels called out as they ran by.

"Send half the force to barrage against the Imperial Soldiers; don't let them get past Building C," she called back, "Send the other half to fight Deidara in the main lobby; make sure he doesn't come out of there alive. _Blow up the whole goddamn place if you have to!" _

The young man nodded and joined the crowd of other Rebels running towards the lobby to aid the fight.

"Why the hell are we running? We should be fighting," Sasuke interjected combatively. The annoyance and frustration just continued to grow every second they distanced themselves from the battle. For the last month and a half, they'd been trained in combat for situations such as this. There was finally some real danger at the tips of their fingers and all they were doing was fleeing. What the hell gives?

"They're here for us," Shikamaru commented as they entered a now empty hallway that led to the simulation rooms, "The government knows of our plan and sent the Fleet to destroy us before we can execute any of it. If we stay and fight with those Akatsuki here, the chances of us dying right here and now are high. We won't even get a chance to find the Soluroid pieces if that happens. We have to leave."

"Couldn't have said it any better, IQ200," Anko said, her voice no longer in a yell for the hallway was eerily quiet aside from the sound of their amble feet on metal, "I just thought they were here to destroy this base, which wouldn't have been a problem; we could take them down easy, especially with you ten on our side. But if they sent members of the Akatsuki, it's obvious their mission is much more serious."

"Who exactly are they?" Neji asked. The group took a turn the same second another explosion shook the building. The battle was still in full throttle.

"Nins. Powerful ones that surpass the Fleet's Alpha caliber," Anko answered, "but just as government affiliated."

"How come we've never heard of them?" Sasuke asked, "I've read the transcripts in the forbidden room of the library and I've never come across that name."

"That's because they're a secret, exclusive organization high up in rank within the government. Hell, even the Alpha Generals don't know about the workings of that tightwad group. Eleven members, if you include Orochimaru."

"The head of Nius is an Akatsuki?"

"Yup."

The four neared the door of the simulation room when a shadowed body was thrown through the opening, slamming onto the metal wall on the other side of the hallway. It was Lee, looking pained at the impact as he slid down to the ground and his nun-chuck propulsor's glow drained from the frame.

"Lee!" Anko exclaimed. She ran towards him and dropped down to one knee beside him with the others right behind her. She quickly surveyed him and found that he was fortunately only bruised and scratched with no life threatening injuries.

"Don't… don't go in there," Lee breathed heavily, "He's too powerful… the man with the red eyes."

Anko's eyes suddenly flashed wide at the latter words, then she immediately stood up and ran into the simulation room. Without saying a word and sensing that there was something dangerous up ahead, the three followed her inside. There, they saw that the simulation room was in a complete wreck: the carbon-plated walls that made the dome were severely dented or misshapen to the point of unable to be repaired and numerous torn wires protruded out from the cracks and ceiling. The place looked on the brink of decimation, with only the propulsor wall looking in tact.

They saw that Ten Ten was unconscious, her body lying right up against the dome wall with her propulsors scattered a few feet away from her. Chouji was in the middle of a run to tend to her while Hinata was trying her hardest to stay conscious to help a stricken Shino stay stable. Everyone looked battered and frightened from a skirmish the others had just barely missed. Then, their eyes landed on the man in the middle of the room who had Ino hung in the air by the neck and Kiba and Akamaru knocked out at his feet. The girl was unconscious, her body dangling like a rag doll in the man's hold.

"Ino!" Shikamaru shouted. The four paused at the sight and saw that the man wore the same uniform the Deidara man had- a black and red body suit with a single red cloud on his back. This man was also an Akatsuki, Sasuke instantly thought. The man looked strong, and it didn't surprise Sasuke that his other fellow nins were taken down seemingly so easily. Who exactly was he?

"Itachi," Anko said, her eyes predatory like a jaguar's, "What the hell are you doing here?"

The man with red eyes took his gaze away from the blonde girl in his clutch and peered over at the newcomers. He then gently let down Ino's body on the floor next to her fallen propulsor before slowly walking towards them, hands in tights fists.

"Anko, it's been a while," he said, voice deep and smooth, "I've genuinely missed your company."

He halted and his eyes flickered to Sasuke, who flinched at the sudden eye contact. What was this sudden feeling that took over him? Fear? Apprehension? He couldn't discern it right in that moment, but all he knew was that the man's gaze bore into him enough to make him quickly perspire. His red eyes were terrifying.

Anko noticed their sudden eye contact and automatically moved herself in front of Sasuke in a protective manner. Of all the Akatsuki to show up, she cursed the Heavens for letting it be Itachi. Even Deidara would have been a better choice.

"You better get on out of here before I kill you," she hissed, "You traitor."

Itachi gave a small smile that looked extremely out of place in the destroyed setting. He looked amused at Anko's threat- a reaction none of them had ever seen from their experience with the woman. Sasuke peered over Anko's shoulder, not intending to miss anything at all. He was a traitor? Sasuke's curiosity heightened, despite the off-putting feeling he still felt after looking into the blood red eyes.

"I'm not here to fight you," Itachi said calmly, his smile gone, "Unlike Deidara and the rest of the Fleet attacking this base to take or kill your nins, I'm only here to deliver a gift. Secretly, I might add."

Anko went into a fighting stance, apparently knowing what he was talking about and intending to prevent him from successfully making his delivery. The other three immediately followed suit, sensing that battle was to ensue very soon. But Sasuke wondered how in the world they were to match this man, who almost destroyed the place without a visible propulsor, without their weapons. Hand-to-hand seemed to be hopeless offense.

"Gotta get through me, first," Anko growled.

"Anko-sensei," Neji mumbled, "We first need to get our propulsors before we fight this man. I don't know the extent of this man's power, but I predict we won't have a chance against him unless we do."

Their instructor clenched her teeth and tightened her fists, showing that she knew that fact to be true. Sasuke glanced at Anko and the propulsor wall that was a few feet away from Itachi. With him as the obstacle between them and their weapons, it seemed the fight was already lost. There was no easy way to get through. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw that Shikamaru's brow was deeply scrunched in thought, his mind furiously calculating a way to get to them. The others were too injured to help.

"No worries, Nara, you don't have to strategize," Itachi said simply, "I'll give them to you."

Without hesitating, he walked over to the wall harboring their propulsors, swiftly unhinged each in mere seconds, and then threw the weapons over to his enemies in smooth movements. The charitable gesture caught his audience off guard, but they moved to catch each without any arguments.

Sasuke stepped forward first to catch his propulsor by the hilt, already pumping chakra to his hand to activate it in an instant, but the same second his hand came in contact with his propulsor, Itachi was directly right in front of him. Anko and Neji caught theirs the second after, having no time to react to the sudden, lightning fast movements of Itachi. He raised his open palm in front of his face, a dark chrome ring glinting a blood red color around his middle finger, and the atmosphere around them completely changed.

Anko was caught in mid-swing, with Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru who didn't even have time to move still merely in their stance, when paralysis overcame them. Their bodies halted as if they were frozen in time, but their consciousness was oddly still there and aware of what was happening in front of their eyes. What had he done to them? This was nothing they'd ever encountered even in the most difficult of simulations. Who in the hell was this man?

Itachi reached out his ringed hand and put it up against the upper half of Sasuke's face. Sasuke felt his mind empty of any thoughts and a foreign energy creeping into every crevice of his psych. His body was completely frozen, unable to move even if the paralysis wasn't in effect. He felt no physical pain, but the growing energy inside his brain was beginning to quickly become overwhelming that he cried out. Just right when the sensation became too much, Itachi let go of his hold and Sasuke' crumpled to the floor barely holding on to his consciousness.

"Sasuke!" he heard Shikamaru, Chouji and Hinata yell.

"No!" Anko shouted.

"I hope you'll find your gift helpful," Itachi said, then disappeared into thin air in a cloud of black crows. The second he was gone, the paralysis disappeared and their bodies could move freely again. Anko immediately dove down on the ground to Sasuke who was in a state of mental shock, his eyes wide and body slightly shaking from what Itachi had done to him.

"Goddamit!" Anko cursed.

An explosion suddenly sounded for the millionth time that day as one side of the dome was destroyed. The deafening sounds of aircraft split through the air and blinding lights peered into the large hole of the dome. Three Rebel aircraft were hovering dangerously close together, their engines humming loudly and the night winds flowing into the simulation dome.

"_You kids! Get into each ship with your cellmates-NOW," _they heard an unfamiliar voice call through one of the aircraft's audio transmitter, "_Hurry it up! We're taking some heat from the Fleet right now! More of them are coming!" _

"_Go!"_ Anko bellowed over the sounds of engines and fire, "_Neji, grab Sasuke and Ino and get to Ship 3. Chouji, get yourself and your cellmates to Ship 8. Hinata, get Lee in the hallway and get to Ship 12. I'll throw Kiba and his dog on up once you get in. Go! Go! Go!" _

Everybody moved without thinking twice, the emergency hitting them harder than any other time in their lives, and carried out Anko's instructions as quickly as they could. Sasuke, barely half conscious, comprehended his surroundings enough to know that his companions were in a state of panic to get out of there, but he couldn't move no matter how much his consciousness told his body to get up. No! He was not going to die here. And with whatever Itachi did to him, he still had no intention to die. _Get the hell up!_

Sasuke caught sight of Neji running towards him with Ino under one of his arms and his propulsor glowing grey to enhance his strength to carry dead weight quickly. With one quick movement, he tucked Sasuke's body under his free arm and grabbed the sword with his hand, then quickly sprinted towards Ship 3. The others were on there way and close to making it to their designated ship before more of the Fleet came.

"What about you and me, Anko-sensei?" Shikamaru asked as Ship 12's door ramp hissed shut.

"We're getting our own ship with your Flux propulsor," she said, and then turned to run out of the simulation room, "Let's go!"

The three ships began to move, not able to wait much longer for their doors to close, and the last thing Sasuke could see was the simulation dome's blasted wall, the blackness of the night surrounding the simulation building, and the bright display of chakra missiles flying in all directions. Everything was happening so fast and the chaos was too much for his weakening mind to handle. His body continued to helplessly shake under Neji's tight hold as the door ramp of their ship finally shut closed.

His mind, finally unable to hold on to itself, then fell deep into the darkness.

* * *

_Ahhhh I'm so sorry for the long wait… I've neglected to keep writing, for this story as well as my other ones, and I feel bad for making those of you who follow this wait. So, in compensation, I've made this chapter a long one and full of events. :D I hope it suffices. FINALLY! Plot development with real action! haha _

_Anyway, feedback is, as always, welcome and wanted. I know my execution for this chapter might be messier than my last chapters, but I just wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible. There might be tiny edits here and there but not too many. _

_Comments, constructive criticism, encouragement or any of that sort are greatly appreciated! I'm definitely not giving up on this story, just to put that out there. _

_Thanks for reading! Until next time~ _


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